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.