‘I’m back.’
Cristiano Ronaldo shouted in front of the TV cameras after the final whistle in Houston. The meaning of this statement is clear – he played very badly in Portugal’s 1-1 draw against DR Congo. Meanwhile, stars like Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi are getting multiple goals. Is the 41-year-old Ronaldo finished?
In the match against Uzbekistan, Ronaldo explained – no, he’s not finished, he’s actually back!
After the topic of Ronaldo’s fading came up in a tone of criticism, many people put him on the list of cancellations. But everyone may have forgotten that legends know how to come back. Like Ronaldo, who came back with a double goal in Portugal’s 5-0 win over Uzbekistan in Houston.
After this match, the Portugal legend was annoyed by journalists’ questions about his arch-rival Lionel Messi.
Messi is in great form for Argentina. He has scored a total of five goals for Argentina, including a hat-trick in both group matches. Ronaldo’s Portugal, who have scored two goals so far in the World Cup, have won one and drawn one of their two group matches. In the first question in the mixed zone, journalists asked him in Spanish whether he would like to face Messi in one of the later stages of the World Cup, which could also be a possible farewell match for the two in the World Cup.
Ronaldo didn’t show any anger, but his response was clear: “I don’t know what to say, because the question is meaningless. It would have been great. But the most important thing was to win the match to get through the group stage and prepare ourselves for the next match. We know the match against Colombia will be very difficult. I played well, scored goals and helped the team; the whole team played well today.”
Then Ronaldo’s Q&A session with the journalists continued with various questions about Portugal. For the last question, a journalist brought Messi up again, saying, “Last night (night) Messi scored two goals, Mbappe too…” – and he could not finish the question. Ronaldo, who was irritated, did not let him finish the question and turned to the side to ask another journalist. Then he said to the journalist in Portuguese, “Dale, dale, dale (say, say, you say).”
The journalist wanted to know if Ronaldo wanted to answer another question. The Portuguese legend replied, ‘It depends on the question, if it’s not good, I won’t answer.’ Then, referring to Portugal’s first match, the journalist wanted to know if Ronaldo was finally able to return to his familiar rhythm in the World Cup?
Ronaldo has scored 10 goals in the World Cup. No one else has scored more goals for Portugal in the World Cup. After a poor performance in the match against DR Congo, Ronaldo said about the criticism, ‘It was a very difficult week, we went through a dark time. It felt like I had already retired from football. But I didn’t give up, I kept fighting as always. Because, more than anything else, I believe in hard work. I have to admit, it was a very difficult time. But we got back to our normal selves.’
