Dave Feschuk: Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit from international soccer is unfortunate. But the mark he leaves is extraordinary - Toronto Star

The comparison to Lionel Messi, not always favourable, has continued in the way the two stars have said their goodbyes. 

Cristiano Ronaldo kisses the trophy after Portugal’s win over France in the Euro 2016 final.

Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @dfeschuk

Cristiano Ronaldo is among the most popular athletes to ever walk this planet. So maybe it makes sense that he is the latest embodiment of an eternal sporting truth.

Exiting gracefully doesn’t always come easily to the greats.

There’s no other way to class the timing of Ronaldo’s Thursday retirement from the Portuguese national team than unfortunate. It came a little more than a month after the country’s all-time superstar was suspended for 30 days by the Portuguese soccer federation for abandoning the team’s training camp in apparent disgruntlement over the diminishment of his role with the squad.

The 41-year-old Ronaldo did not play in a Nations League match that preceded his suspension, a 2-1 win over Norway, during which Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus instructed Ronaldo to warm up before deciding not to insert him into the action. Ronaldo, miffed by the slight, left the team soon after. And then came Thursday’s announcement on social media that he is now gone for good.

“To the Portuguese people, the day has come for me to hand back the No. 7 shirt of our national team,” the 41-year-old Ronaldo said in his video message. “I never felt it belonged to me alone but for 23 years I had the privilege and the responsibility of wearing it, defending it and carrying it with me into stadiums all around the world.

“Today the time has come to pass it on to the future. It was not an easy decision because some decisions are not made with the mind alone. They are also made with the heart. A journey that began in August 2003 and changed my life forever has come to an end.”

It goes without saying Ronaldo is among the greatest players in the history of the world’s most popular sport, and in some minds the greatest. He is, without debate, the all-time leading goal scorer in international men’s play. This past summer he became the only man to score in six World Cups. He and forever rival Lionel Messi are the only two men to even play in six World Cups.

But as international partings go, Ronaldo’s has so far not exactly been Messi-esque. It was just last month in Buenos Aires that the 38-year-old Messi, fresh off leading Argentina to its second straight World Cup final, was feted by his national federation with what amounted to a ceremonial swan song. The 3-0 Argentina win over Benin that was technically an international friendly. But it was an elaborately stage-managed farewell to a legend, complete with a drone show and a stoppage of play in the 10th minute to pay tribute to Argentina’s beloved No. 10.

The idea that Ronaldo might one day be convinced to again suit up for Portugal, even in a glorified kick-around to say a proper goodbye, had begun to percolate even as news of his retirement was breaking. The Portuguese federation promised a tribute “in which the fans and the country can one more time applaud and celebrate a player who has given us so much.”

But if Ronaldo and Messi will forever be linked in greatest-of-the-era and greatest-of-all-time debates, there’s no denying Messi, perhaps in part because he’s younger, has separated himself in the category of late-career relevance.

To the end, Messi was the central figure of a formidable national team. He led Argentina to a World Cup title in 2022 and to a World Cup final loss to Spain this past summer, when his athletic genius was still on game-turning display.

The plot line of Ronaldo’s most recent World Cup, in contrast, was often framed as a debate around his continuing viability as a starter. That is not to say he still couldn’t conjure rare magic in spurts.

For several thousand Toronto sports fans, Thursday’s news brought with it a certain kind of bragging right. Those in attendance at the unforgettable round-of-32 World Cup match at BMO Field between Portugal and Croatia can tell their grandchildren they saw what is, at least for now, the last of Ronaldo’s record 146 international goals. They can also say they saw what was maybe the last glimpse of Ronaldo’s greatness on the World Cup stage — a wondrous display of skill earlier in the match in which Ronaldo appeared to score a goal that was, like a series of goals on that controversial night, erased by video review.

Toronto probably hadn’t seen anything comparable since Michael Jordan arrived in Toronto as a member of the Washington Wizards, long past his prime but still showing flashes, still yearning to play.

The competitive will that propels the rarest of athletes to the heights can drag them into less flattering locales when their prowess diminishes. But it’s worth remembering it’s the will that got them to the top of the world in the first place, and it’s their mountain to occupy, even if most fans would rather not see their sporting gods flirt with shaky descents.

Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request.

There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.

You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.

Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details

Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @dfeschuk