Cristiano Ronaldo not ready to retire from international football

Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has dismissed suggestions he had considered ending his international career in the near future, adding that post-Euro criticism did not worry him.

 

Ronaldo led Portugal in the Euro 2024 championship, where his country was knocked out in the quarterfinals following a loss against France.

“That’s all from the press. It never crossed my mind that my cycle [with Portugal] had come to an end. Quite the opposite: it gave me even more motivation to continue to be honest,” Ronaldo told a news conference on Monday.

“The motivation is to come to the national team to win the Nations League … We’ve already won it once, and we want to do it again. I might say the same thing over and over again. But I don’t think long term; it’s always short term.”

Portugal host Croatia in their Nations League opener on Thursday before welcoming Scotland in League A Group One on Sunday.

Ronaldo captained Portugal to success in the opening edition of the Nations League in 2018-19, three years after they became European champions for the first time in France.