Asked about his next goal with Portugal after scoring his 900th career goal, Cristiano Ronaldo (39 years old) assures that he has already achieved the Grail by winning Euro 2016 with the national team.
Another box checked. And it’s monumental. Cristiano Ronaldo reached the 900-goal mark in his career on Thursday during Portugal’s victory over Croatia (2-1) in the Nations League. The striker expressed his pride and emotion at reaching this milestone before thinking about reaching 1,000 goals, as he recently revealed on his YouTube channel.
“Everything that comes next is spectacular”
At 39, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is not satisfied but he avoids announcing his next objectives. Like winning the next World Cup in 2026 with Portugal? According to him, he has already won the Grail by winning Euro 2016 with the Seleçao.
“For Portugal, winning a European Championship is the same as winning a World Cup,” he explains. “I’ve already won two trophies for Portugal (Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League), everything that comes after that is spectacular. I’m not motivated by those reasons, I want to enjoy football every moment.”
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker has ruled out the idea of retiring from international football for now. “When the time comes, I’ll move on,” he said this week. “It won’t be a difficult decision to make. If I feel like I’m not contributing anything anymore, I’ll be the first to go.” He explained that he “never considered leaving the national team” after the last Euro, which ended with a quarter-final defeat to France on penalties (0-0, 5-3 on penalties).
Eight years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo won the most important trophy of his national team career by beating Les Bleus in the Euro 2016 final (1-0, aet). Quickly taken off injured, he transformed himself into a second coach on the bench, haranguing his teammates throughout the match before Eder’s liberating goal in extra time. It remains, today, a moment engraved with as much value, for him, as a World Cup title, where his best result is a semi-final in 2006… lost to France.
