Portugal legend, Cristiano Ronaldo has played down talks that he is considering retirement with the national team in the near future, adding that post-Euro criticism did not worry him.
Ronaldo has been named in the Portugal squad for both of their Nations League opener—against Croatia on Thursday and against Scotland on Sunday in League A Group One —by manager Roberto Martinez.
“That’s all from the press. It never crossed my mind that my cycle [with Portugal] had come to an end,” Ronaldo said in a news conference Monday as echoed by ESPN. “Quite the opposite: it gave me even more motivation to continue to be honest.”
“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.”
Three years after Portugal won their first-ever European Championship in France, Ronaldo led the team to victory in the first Nations League in 2018–19.
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“Until the end of my career, I will always have the mindset that I will be a starter,” Ronaldo added.
“When I’m [no longer] an asset I will be the first to leave. But I will go with a clear conscience, as always, because I know who I am, what I can do, what I do and what I will continue to do.”
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