It can be summed up Cristiano Ronaldothe career in two pictures. No, not the five Ballon d’Ors or the Champions League titles he won. The two photos are from different World Cups, captured right at the moment before the zenith and after the nadir of his career.The first is from the 2006 World Cup and the second from the 2026 World Cup. The first has him winking at the bench, a petulant upstart who was going to dominate the game. The latter saw him in tears, perhaps unable to understand that he was no longer the player he was. Between those two moments, we saw a player striving towards greatness, rewriting memories, transcending the game and, in the end, unable to tell the difference between reality and his illusions.But let’s go down memory lane.In 2006, England met Portugal in a wild encounter that saw Ronaldo’s Manchester United team-mate. Wayne Rooney being sent off for putting his foot on the wrong sphere. A proud Portuguese, Ronaldo argued with the referee for sending off Rooney and then became Public Enemy Number 1 in England by winking at the bench.The English rags, as they are used to doing, lost their rag, calling Ronaldo’s head, but Sir Alex Ferguson used that moment to create a siege mentality that led to his third great United team, with Rooney and Ronaldo at the heart of it.That moment also spurred Ronaldo to become the player we know today. While the statisticians prefer the 2007-08 version, when he plundered 42 goals in a single season that ended with United winning the Premier League and the Champions League, the purists prefer the 2006-07 version, when he was the perfect amalgamation of the touchy-feely teenager and the goal-scoring beast he would become. Before that, most dribblers were thrown into the stink of Premier League redundancy as people who couldn’t make it on a cold night in Stoke.Everyone knows what comes next.Ronaldo left rainy Manchester for sweltering Madrid, becoming the most expensive player in history, and became the foundation around which Real Madrid built their new Galacticos, which saw them win four Champions League titles during his tenure. His football rivalry with Lionel Messi defined the game for the better part of a decade, but even at Real, Ronaldo’s sphere of influence was waning. The marauding winger made less and less meandering runs, instead becoming the player who only focused on one aspect of football: scoring goals. With age, that sphere decreased, to the point that by the time the World Cup 2026 arrived, it was only the penalty point.The journey that begins with petulance ends with pity. Ronaldo tried to keep a brave face about it all, channeling his inner Sinatra to declare that he left with a “clear conscience”, that he had won three titles with Portugal, and that Portugal had never won a “big trophy before Cristiano”. He sounded more like a man trying to convince himself than the observer. Of course, purists point out that in the Euro 2016 final, Ronaldo was injured and didn’t even play when Portugal took the lead. And the jury is still out on whether the two Nations League titles, a tournament designed to give some weight to the glorified friendlies, can be considered “big”.Perhaps Ronaldo’s rise and fall feel particularly personal because of the similarities in age. When a fan is almost the same age as a footballer, give or take a couple of years, their destinies are almost intertwined.In 2003, all the forums of United were blown away by a new signing from Sporting Lisbon, a boy named Cristiano. He was also upset to learn that the Ronaldo in his name came from an American president rather than the Brazilian Il Fenomeno. It was said he gave John O’Shea a migraine when Sporting Lisbon played Manchester United in a pre-season friendly and Sir Alex refused to leave before signing him, which saw United’s players forced to spend a few extra hours on the bus. One clearly remembers his debut, coming against Bolton and wearing the famous Number 7 that had been vacated by David Beckham after the boots started flying in the dressing room. Who thought this man up? How could he wear the number worn by George Best, Eric Cantona and Becks?He came on for Nicky Butt in the 61st minute, a teenager with jagged teeth and terrible hair. At the end of the game, no one expected to ask if he deserved to put on the shirt. As George Best said: “It was without a doubt the most exciting debut performance I have ever seen. There were players who had many similarities. [to me]but this guy has more than anyone else, especially since he’s really on two feet. He can play on either wing, beat players with ease and put in dangerous crosses with his left or right peg. When was the last time you saw him?”I spent six years here, winning three league titles, two League Cups, the FA Cup, the Club World Cup and the Champions League. During his peak, he looked like the amalgamation of many Premier League greats: a man who could head like Shearer, curl the ball like Henry, score a free-kick like Beckham (albeit with a different style) and beat defenders like Ginola.Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford 12 years later and the highlight of his stay was Peter Drury’s comment: “A walking work of art, vintage, beyond valuation, beyond fake or imitation. CR7 reunited. “ Unfortunately, it was so good for Ronaldo, as it became apparent that while he still had the prowess to score goals, his presence often left a team unbalanced. Results turned south and Ronaldo’s former team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who played the best brand of attacking football at United since Sir Alex Ferguson left, was eventually sacked. Ronaldo eventually had his contract torn up after giving a Roy Keane-esque interview about the club and made his way to Saudi Arabia, where even the local laws were bent to his will, allowing him to stay with his unmarried lover. By the time the World Cup arrived, save for hardcore Ronaldo stans such as iShowSpeed and Piers Morgan, it had become evident that, as much as the spirit was willing, the flesh had faded.A meme summarizes the dissonance between Ronaldo’s ability and his reality, mocking the state of the Golden Boot Race: Messi (7), Mbappe (7), Haaland (7) and CR7.Perhaps the comparisons with Messi were what made the difference the strongest. Messi, a couple of years younger, plays with more freedom than before, lifting his teammates. Ronaldo, on the other hand, feels like an albatross around his team’s neck. Now, it should be noted that while Ronaldo and Messi played for similarly strong teams during their Real Madrid and Barcelona eras, Argentina has always been a far superior soccer nation compared to Portugal. Messi has always been surrounded by the best players in the world. The neatest analogy comes from cricket: Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar have also been talked about in the same breath, but the West Indies have never had a team to challenge for the ODI World Cup like India, even if they end up becoming T20 beasts.However, when it came to Ronaldo, the numbers weren’t even the most painful part. Ronaldo always took the shots, he also made the runs, he always made the familiar jumps before a free kick, he always threw up his hands when the pass wasn’t coming, he always looked at the referee as if the game owed him one last favor. But the body no longer obeys the mythology. The jump was not there. The half-rope was not there. The sharpness from inside the box, that terrifying certainty that he would turn any loose ball into a funeral procession for defenders, was conspicuously absent.
Against Spain, it became impossible to ignore. Portugal carried the idea of Ronaldo more than Ronaldo himself. Every attack seemed to reach him a second too late or leave him a second too soon. The man who once bent all defenses out of shape was now waiting for the game to come to him. And when it did, it no longer came with the old inevitability. At the last moment, when there was someone jumping, it was the 5ft 8in Bernardo Silva instead of the 6ft 1in Cristiano Ronaldo.Maybe that’s why the tears felt so overwhelming. They were not the tears of a man raging against the dying light. They were the tears of an old man who does not understand that the world no longer bends to his will, that is now indifferent to his whims.And for a fan, this is a tough look. It’s easy to mock the vanity, the whims, the interviews, the fanboys, the endless need to remind everyone of their own greatness. But it is more difficult to watch the player who made you fall in love with the excesses of football become an act of tribute to himself. In some ways, it is reminiscent of the post-2019 funk of MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League, another man who, like Voldemort, will worship at the altar of number seven.
Young fans hold a photo of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo before the World Cup Round of 16 soccer match against Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
In 2006, the blink of an eye heralded a new era of world domination. The tears in 2026 were the end of that mirage. And for those of us who grew up with him, who hated him, loved him, defended him, mocked him and always secretly wanted one last jump to the back seat, it was painful because we were no longer watching Ronaldo lose in Spain. We see Ronaldo wasting time.