Lionel Messi is being given a send-off. Cristiano Ronaldo, if this is the end, got the tunnel at full time of a game he did not play in. The two careers that ran in parallel for two decades are finishing in completely different registers, and the one that nobody planned is Ronaldo's.
After the World Cup, Messi retired from international football at 39. Ronaldo, 41, decided to carry on. Messi's Argentina career may now outlast his rival's by a few days, with a home friendly against Benin on Tuesday marked as his last game.
How it unravelled in two weeks
Portugal replaced Roberto Martinez with Jorge Jesus after the World Cup. Jesus had managed Ronaldo at Al-Nassr last season, which was supposed to make this easier. Less than two weeks ago Ronaldo sounded content: "I had a conversation with our president, with our coach. I still believe that I'm able to help the national team to reach what they want."
He started the 1-0 win over Wales. Then Jesus told him he would be on the bench against Norway, had him warming up for most of the second half, and never brought him on. It was the first time in 18 years that Ronaldo had sat out a Portugal match as an unused substitute. Guillem Balague, who wrote a book about him in 2015, put the grievance plainly: "He gets asked to warm up for the whole of the second half, practically. There are tacit rules in football: you don't do that to Pele, to Diego Maradona, to Lionel Messi, to Cristiano, right?" At the whistle Ronaldo went down the tunnel rather than to the supporters. When Jesus confirmed he would not start against Denmark either, he left the camp altogether and wrote: "In due course, I will tell the truth to all the Portuguese people about my reasons for leaving the national team, to which I have always been dedicated."
FA president Pedro Proenca flew to Copenhagen and landed at half past two in the morning to try to fix it. He could not. "He is in the national team on sporting merit, and that must be unquestionable. We have to pay tribute to Ronaldo," Proenca said afterwards. Jesus, following Sunday's win over Norway, left the door open: "If he wants to, he'll return to the national team. We can talk before the next call-up, but Cris is the one who's going to decide. He's the one who should decide how he wants to end his time with the national team."
Billboards, torn shirts and a split country
Lisbon has been covered in it. Posters went up thanking Ronaldo and attacking the manager, one of them next to the Estadio da Luz, where Jesus won three league titles with Benfica. They read, in Portuguese: "Thank you Cristiano Ronaldo for everything you did for Portugal. You will always be our captain. Jorge Jesus was not up to the task. Lack of sensitivity. Treating a captain wrongly. Inflated ego."
At the Denmark game some fans wore shirts reading 'Love you Jesus' and others came dressed head to toe in Ronaldo merchandise. Rasmus Hojlund scored and celebrated with the siuuu, which he has done against Portugal before. Videos circulated of supporters tearing up their jerseys. Jesus and Proenca were booed as they left a building in Copenhagen. The newspapers split too: Record, in which Ronaldo owns shares, led with "Ronaldo leaves after clash with Jesus"; Jornal de Noticias called it "the end of a historic era"; Bola went with "A sad goodbye"; Jogo with "CR7 turns his back on the national team". Maria Ribeiro, a fan from Lisbon, caught the exhaustion: "It is so hard for all us fans. We all love him but it is getting too much now. It is hard to imagine Portugal without Ronaldo but maybe this is the time. There is too much arguing between ourselves."
The numbers nobody wants to look at
Here is the uncomfortable part for anyone arguing he is irreplaceable. Over the last nine years of his international career, Portugal's win percentage without Ronaldo is marginally better than with him, 66% against 63%, and they score 2.7 goals a game without him compared with 2.1 with him. The two biggest wins in the country's history, 9-0 against Luxembourg and 9-1 against Armenia, both came in qualifying matches he missed through suspension.
He has 146 goals and 234 caps for Portugal, both world records, and 979 career goals across Portugal, Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al-Nassr. The hunt for 1,000 may now have to be finished in Saudi Arabia. Journalist Marcus Alves, who covers Portugal, framed the wider problem: "Of Portugal's last five coaches, Ronaldo had issues with four of them, Carlos Queiroz, Paulo Bento, Fernando Santos and now Jesus. That's too much distraction when Portugal have arguably their best generation ever." Portugal's next match is against Denmark in November. The decision is Ronaldo's.
Context: Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, Al-Nassr forward, 146 goals in 234 caps for Portugal, both world records, and 979 career goals in total. He left the Portugal camp after being left out against Norway and Denmark under new head coach Jorge Jesus. Portugal's next fixture is against Denmark in November.
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