Untouchable or a support act? Ronaldo’s 1,000-goal quest continues

Cristiano Ronaldo was climbing the stairs to his room at the Portugal camp when he spotted Geovany Quenda at the end of the hallway and came to say hello to the new boy making his senior international debut.

“So my man, are you recovered from the game?” Ronaldo asked in early September.

Sporting had beaten Porto 2-0 the weekend before.

Quenda was just too shy to reply. Sporting’s 17-year-old winger was not even born when the 39-year-old legend first wore the Portuguese jersey back in 2003.

Ronaldo has been around in the national team for over two decades now but, despite the harsh criticism that followed Portugal’s quarter-finals exit in Euro 2024, he has made it crystal clear that he isn’t going anywhere.

After a tournament where he didn’t hold a single press conference, the captain has been, in fact, very vocal about that.

In his first post-Euros interview, he told Now, a new local broadcast channel where he’s the second largest shareholder, that when he retires from international football, he “won’t tell anyone – it will be a very spontaneous decision.”

And, in his mind, the time for that has not arrived yet – as he continues his quest for 1,000 career goals.

Having been Portugal’s most used player this summer in Germany – featuring for 485 minutes, 94% of possible time – Ronaldo remains a big part of coach Roberto Martinez’s plans.

So far, the Al-Nassr striker has repaid his faith by scoring twice in two games as the Selecao got their Nations League campaign under way last month.

With Portugal travelling to face Poland this Saturday, he will be hoping to build on that and keep defying the doubters by adding to his 905 career goals. Martinez is certainly not one of them.

“It’s very difficult to be Ronaldo,” the Spanish manager told website Zerozero.

“It makes sense to ask about his age, but we monitored his performance [during the Euros] through statistics, which show he was well used. I have confidential information to back it up.”

Expresso, a leading weekly Portuguese newspaper, has ironically referred to them as ‘top secret’ numbers. Whatever they are, they have been enough to justify Ronaldo’s place in the team for the 2026 World Cup cycle.

“The whole debate is not about his age, but much more than that,” Tomas da Cunha, a football pundit for Dazn and TSF radio, told BBC Sport.

“Pepe was 41 and yet his performances were largely praised in the summer. Ronaldo’s, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired in the last World Cup and Euros. Fernando Santos [former Portugal coach] tried to end his untouchable status, but with Martinez that hasn’t happened.”