Cristiano Ronaldo Retirement U-Turn Addressed by Portugal Boss After Historic Loss

Portugal slid down the FIFA rankings in the national team’s first match since Ronaldo’s retirement.

Cristiano Ronaldo was honored on Saturday. | Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

Portugal manager Jorge Jesus quashed any faint speculation about a return for Cristiano Ronaldo after Saturday’s record home defeat to Denmark, bluntly insisting: “There’s no turning back.”

Ronaldo may not have been in Braga for Portugal’s first match since his abrupt retirement earlier this month, but his presence hung over the whole night.

The entire Portuguese roster descended onto the field in ‘Ronaldo 7’ jerseys, the last of which will be made with the digit in that form. Carlos Forbs’s No. 7 shirt and all subsequent iterations of the number will forever have a small dash through them in tribute of a player who had his own banners in the stands on Saturday.

The big screen jutting out of the jagged rock face at one end of the remarkable ground thanked the retired (not dead) captain, inspiring a mixture of applause and boos in the seventh minute.

There were plenty of tributes for Ronaldo. | Pedro Barrelas/NurPhoto/Getty Images

By that point, Denmark had already had the first shot of the match and seconds later Rasmus Højlund would fire wide from close range. The self-confessed Ronaldo obsessive would score twice in seven second-half minutes after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg broke the deadlock with a penalty on the cusp of halftime. Joachim Andersen made it 4–0 in the 75th minute but Bernardo Silva’s stoppage-time consolation couldn’t distract from the devastating nature of the result.

The 4–1 reverse represents the heaviest competitive home defeat in the 105-year history of the Portuguese men’s national team. Unsurprisingly, the specter of Ronaldo was put to Jesus in the wake of this humiliation. As ever, the severe tactician had little time for it.

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Spiky Jesus Hits Back at Ronaldo Questions

It wasn’t a night to remember for Jorge Jesus. | Miguel Lemos/Soccrates/Getty Images

After watching Portugal suffer a humiliation which Ronaldo never once experienced across his 234 international caps, Jesus was asked if he missed the nation’s record goalscorer.

“Missing him in what sense?” the 72-year-old, who so publicly clashed with Ronaldo during his final international break, snapped. “He’s no longer here. Missing him for what?

“He’d be good for keeping me company, but he doesn’t play anymore; he’s no longer here, and he has already decided his own future.”

Jesus did concede that the Portuguese public may not take the same stance. “It’s normal for people to miss him and not forget what Cristiano Ronaldo did for the national team over 23 years,” the manager shrugged, perhaps thinking back to the billboards which cropped up last month criticizing his decision to drop the 41-year-old. Yet, there would be no swift U-turn. “There’s no turning back.”

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Portugal Slide Down FIFA Rankings Without Ronaldo

Portugal immediately felt the pinch of Cristiano Ronaldo’s exit. | Miguel RIOPA/AFP/Getty Images

Defeat to Denmark didn’t harm Portugal’s hopes of qualifying for the Nations League quarterfinals. A faultless start to the group stage ensured that Jesus’s side are already guaranteed at least second place and currently lead the Danes by three points with one match remaining.

However, the defeat did send Portugal sliding down from fifth to seventh place in FIFA’s official world rankings. The 2016 European champion now sits below Morocco and a Brazil side which has drawn with Australia and lost to Japan since the World Cup.

Portugal hasn’t fallen out of the top seven since September 2024 following a disappointing quarterfinal exit to France at that summer’s Euros. Many expected Ronaldo to retire then but Roberto Martínez had other ideas, crafting the entire roster around the increasingly immobile talisman.

Jesus has taken on the challenge of retiring Ronaldo and intends to make it a permanent split.

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