Cristiano Ronaldo officially closed his World Cup career in an unwanted way. Portugal lost 0-1 to Spain in the round of 16, and the 41-year-old superstar left the biggest football stage in the world while still unfulfilling his championship dream.
This is Ronaldo's sixth and final World Cup. Before the tournament, he affirmed that he would leave this playground after the 2026 World Cup, but the ending came according to the familiar scenario: not scoring, playing faintly and continuing to be kept on the field while younger players were replaced one after another.
History seems to repeat itself for Portugal. In 2010, they also lost to Spain 0-1 in the round of 16. 16 years later, that score appeared again, this time with a decisive goal by Mikel Merino in injury time after a delicate assist from Ferran Torres.
The victory clearly reflects the difference between the two coaches. Luis de la Fuente made his mark with effective substitutions when both Torres and Merino came on as substitutes to create the only goal. Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez had almost no significant adjustments and continued to place absolute faith in Ronaldo.
Apart from Nuno Mendes' shot hitting the crossbar, Portugal created very few notable opportunities. Only when they were led did they increase the pressure, but the shots of Bernardo Silva or Joao Neves could not save the situation.
As for Ronaldo, he only touched the ball 19 times in the whole match and had 2 shots on target but not enough to make a difference against Spain's solid defense. La Roja continues to keep a clean sheet, raising their unbeaten streak at the 2026 World Cup to five.
Considering his entire World Cup career, Ronaldo still possesses remarkable milestones. He is the first player to score in six consecutive World Cups and has made 27 appearances, only behind Lionel Messi's record.
However, the performance in the knockout matches is a big disappointment. Apart from the penalty against Croatia at the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo has hardly made a mark in decisive matches. Portugal has also only reached the semi-finals once since 2006, despite many generations of talented players.
In the last years of his career, Ronaldo was no longer the "solution" as before. However, Roberto Martinez still built the team around CR7, even leaving Goncalo Ramos - who scored many goals in the knockout matches - on the bench in the match against Spain.
In the end, that gamble did not bring results. Ronaldo closed the World Cup journey with many personal records but could not complete the biggest goal of raising the gold cup. That is also the biggest regret in the illustrious career of one of the greatest players in football history.
