Cristiano Ronaldo was in a combative mood during the pre-match press conference ahead of Portugal’s FIFA World Cup Round of 16 clash against Spain. Ronaldo’s sometimes playful banter in a rare World Cup news conference ended with an exchange between Portugal’s superstar and a reporter from Argentina. Ronaldo took the opportunity on the eve of the Round of 16 clash with Iberian rival Spain to repeat something he has said at least once before: this sixth World Cup for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star will be his last.
“What remains with me is the people – the people who love you. I share hotels with the staff, Latino people, and those are spectacular memories. Yesterday on the flight, there was an Argentine flight attendant. And I knew she was Argentine by the way she looked at me: ‘I knew you were Argentine by the way you looked at me. If you look away quickly, it means you don’t like Cristiano,'” Ronaldo said in translated remarks on Sunday, breaking into a smile.
“I was joking, of course, and told her: ‘My partner is Argentinian. So obviously I have a special affection for Argentinians, too. She is from Buenos Aires. So it was all good; it wasn’t a problem!'”
🚨🚨🚨🚨🎙️🗣️ كريستيانو رونالدو : بالأمس خلال الرحلة (على الطائرة)، كانت إحدى المضيفات أرجنتينية. لقد عرفت… عرفت أنها أرجنتينية من الطريقة التي نظرت بها إليّ!
فقلت لها: ‘أنا متأكد من أنكِ من الأرجنتين’.
فقالت لي: ‘وكيف عرفت ذلك؟’
فقلت: ‘من الطريقة التي نظرتِ بها إليّ’.
فقالت:… pic.twitter.com/uuvkVQgsed— محمود مجيد (@MMajeedX) July 5, 2026
Ronaldo’s fiancée, Georgina Rodriguez, was born in Buenos Aires to an Argentinian father and a Spanish mother.
“I want to enjoy what will be my last World Cup to the fullest,” Ronaldo continued. “Hopefully, tomorrow won’t be my last match. That way, you can keep bashing me some more.”
Ronaldo, the career leader in international goals with 146, made similar comments in a television interview late last year, a few months after Portugal won the UEFA Nations League title with a riveting victory over Spain in a penalty shootout.
Many of the questions for the 41-year-old during a 25-minute session at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys referred to what everybody in the packed room was assuming: this was it for Ronaldo.
Before the end, he joked with reporters that they were pushing him out the door. Just about every time he did, though, he would turn philosophical.
“There’s nothing missing,” Ronaldo said. “God was so generous toward me. He gave me everything I never expected to win, especially with the national team. And personally, the same thing. So it’s about enjoying every moment. I’m not going to be more Cristiano or less Cristiano because I win the World Cup. Of course, we all have hopes, myself especially, and we all want every possible condition to win. But we know that only one team is going to win.”
Ronaldo’s finale on soccer’s biggest stage – whenever that happens – will come eight years after he became the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick at 33. That came in a 3-3 draw with Spain in a group-stage opener considered one of the World Cup’s best matches, although neither side went on to win the tournament.
“Not to say that we have to do man-to-man marking, but in certain areas of the field, you’ve got to be aware that he’s there,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said in translated remarks. “He’s got the talent, he’s got the class, and he’s got the quality, and at any moment he can be decisive in the game. He can be the best. So we’re well aware of this.”
Portugal are aiming for a second consecutive trip to the quarter-finals. The only other time Portugal went deeper in the Ronaldo era was during their run to the semi-finals in his World Cup debut in 2006.
Ronaldo scored the equalising goal in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia in the Round of 32. Three of his 11 World Cup goals have come in this tournament. It was also a matchup between two players in their 40s, as Croatia’s Luka Modric, Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate, was appearing in his fifth World Cup at the age of 40.
“What I have done throughout my career is adjust to the nuances of age, knowing that I’m not the player I used to be,” Ronaldo said. “But one thing I understand very clearly is that nothing has changed because I can still score a goal. I hope I do that tomorrow, and if I don’t, I hope others on the team do.”
Barring a repeat of his hat-trick from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Ronaldo is unlikely to challenge the Golden Boot co-leaders, Lionel Messi of Argentina and France’s Kylian Mbappé, who have seven goals each and also hold a substantial advantage in the all-time World Cup goals list.
Messi set the record in this tournament and now has 20 goals, while Mbappé has 19. Ronaldo sometimes bristles at discussions about where he stands among his rivals, but not on a day when he reiterated that his World Cup journey is nearing its end.
“Besides some different opinions that you may have, I’m not doing so bad, right?” Ronaldo said. “You know, I’ve scored three goals. There are others who have scored more because they are doing incredibly well, but I’m not doing so bad. And I need to keep moving forward.
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