“If this is to be the end for Cristiano Ronaldo at international level, at least it can be said that he left the stage as he bestrode it: with monumental self-regard. Ronaldo has always been a preening, self-absorbed player, but for a time, when he was one of the best in the world, it could be tolerated. For the past four years, though, he has actively and obviously held Portugal back. There is a great generation of technical talent here weighed down by the monstrous albatross of his ego. … Jesus’s view was that winning the game took priority over the extremely delicate feelings of a 41-year-old forward. Ronaldo walked out on the squad, and perhaps on his international career, although only three days later, seemingly after Jesus had refused to pay penance for his blasphemy. Which is sad, although perhaps not quite in the way Ronaldo thinks it is. …”
Guardian
NYT/ATH: Portugal and the spectre of an absent Cristiano Ronaldo: ‘It’s like dropping a god’
“… He is the ghost at the feast. …”