Time to retire? Ronaldo failed to score for the first time for Portugal in a major tournament

Yesterday, in the Euro 2024 quarter-final match, France knocked Portugal out of the tournament in a penalty shootout. The European Seleção now heads home to analyze their mistakes and prepare for future matches.

A significant question remains about whether the team's star, Cristiano Ronaldo, will continue with the squad. Ronaldo had previously stated that this Euro would be his last, but he hasn't commented on other tournaments, including the World Cup.

The Portuguese coach may be concerned about Ronaldo's statistics. For the first time in his career, he failed to score in a major tournament. Ronaldo debuted for the national team in 2004 and immediately made the squad for that year's Euro, where he scored two goals. He has since been regularly called up for various tournaments, consistently scoring in each one. His goals span the European Championships of 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, as well as the World Cups of 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. This tournament marked the first major event where Ronaldo did not find the back of the net for the national team.

It is worth noting that Ronaldo had an excellent opportunity to score against Turkey in the group stage but opted to assist Bernardo Silva instead. This decision led to a record, as the legendary Portuguese player became the top assist provider in Euro history with this pass.

He also had a chance to score from the penalty spot against Slovenia, but a save by Jan Oblak thwarted him.

Let us not forget that Cristiano Ronaldo holds numerous records, including those for the national team. He is the record holder for the most appearances in a Portugal jersey and across all national teams, the top scorer for Portugal, in national teams overall, at European Championships, and he holds many other records as well.