Cristiano Ronaldo has spent more than twenty years showing how to lead a team by scoring goals. Now he had the opportunity to show how to help when it is someone else’s turn to score, but he does not know how, or cannot bring himself to do it. His decision to leave Portugal’s training camp on Wednesday presents an image that is difficult to reconcile with the collective commitment expected of a captain. A footballer, or any athlete, can still be useful without making the starting line-up, appearing in the photograph or playing a single minute. Especially Cristiano, someone who naturally motivates those around him.
Cristiano chose to leave Portugal’s training camp in Copenhagen on Wednesday, ahead of the match against Denmark, although his statement did not announce a permanent international retirement. His departure followed his absence from the pitch in the win over Norway and a conversation with federation president Pedro Proença. He promised to explain his reasons later. Jorge Jesus, meanwhile, had acknowledged the mistake of sending him to warm up when he had no intention of bringing him on. That handling perhaps deserves criticism for a certain clumsiness, given the player involved, but it hardly makes the captain’s departure an exemplary response.
You can help from the bench too
A week earlier, Cristiano had said he was available to “play, come off, come on or not play” and that he would leave when he no longer felt useful. Those two statements can contradict each other and leave room for doubt. A player’s contribution also lies in training hard, supporting whoever takes his place and accepting a decision he dislikes. His departure suggests that, in his case, the willingness to accept a supporting role had stricter limits than his words implied. That is how he is, for better and for worse.
Football is full of third-choice goalkeepers who prepare for an entire tournament knowing they will probably never play. It is also full of players who rank eighteenth in their coach’s plans yet remain important because they compete in every training session, support a teammate or are ready when their opportunity comes. Their work has value even if it barely registers in the statistics. For all of them, walking away when their role diminishes can hardly serve as a lesson in leadership. More importantly, those stories inspire people beyond sport. Nobody should throw in the towel because they do not occupy an apparently leading role. Everyone can contribute from where they stand.
Modric’s minutes and Cristiano’s 979 goals
On Tuesday, a day before Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure, his former teammate Luka Modric started on the bench against Spain and came on in the 81st minute, with Croatia trailing 3–1. His national coach had chosen to manage his minutes, knowing that this was a player with six Champions League titles, regarded as the greatest footballer in his country’s history and one of the best the game has ever seen. Modric, too, could have let his ego take over and boarded a private jet home from Seville; he certainly has the money. But his character is different, and he recognises that his importance had not disappeared during the previous eighty minutes.
It would be absurd to separate Cristiano’s career from that drive to play every game, keep scoring and surpass the next rival. At 41, he has scored 979 goals for club and country, including 146 for Portugal, and is still chasing a thousand. That ambition explains much of an extraordinary career. It also helps explain the difficulty he shows when he must make room for others: the character that has allowed him to prolong his career seems reluctant to accept that he can still contribute in a different role.
Cristiano has the right to choose when to stop and to want to bow out at the top. But while he remains part of a national team, he shares his teammates’ obligation to accept that the coach may choose someone else. In this episode, it is difficult to see the supporting player, the veteran who uses his authority to help the next generation take over. For the youngster who rarely starts, the most valuable example comes from the player who keeps working after finding his name among the substitutes.
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