Cristiano Ronaldo walked into a packed room at the Portuguese FA headquarters in Oeiras on Wednesday, admitted he was nervous, then did what he has done for more than two decades - took over the room. Speaking at the Portugal Football Summit ahead of Thursday's Nations League match against Wales, the 41-year-old captain made clear he still sees a role for himself in this new chapter of the national team.
That new chapter has a new man in charge. Jorge Jesus has replaced Roberto Martinez as Portugal coach following the country's disappointing World Cup campaign, which ended in the round of 16 against eventual champions Spain. Thursday's game against Wales will be Jesus's first in the job.
Ronaldo arrives at the milestone stage of his career. He sits on 979 career goals - 833 for his clubs and 146 for Portugal - meaning he is 21 short of the 1,000 mark he has openly said he wants to reach. Asked whether winning the Nations League or hitting four figures mattered more to him, he grinned and refused to pick one over the other.
"One goal is to achieve both - reaching 1,000 goals and the national team trying to win this Nations League," Ronaldo said. "It's a new era with manager Jorge Jesus, whom we all know well; I just hope things go well for him."
He went further on what hitting the landmark in Portugal's colours would mean to him, calling it "the icing on the cake."
"Scoring my 1,000th goal for the national team would be the culmination of something - a beautiful story," he said. "It wouldn't be the end of it, but it would be a beautiful story."
Even so, Ronaldo insisted the chase isn't consuming him. "I've already admitted that I want to get there, and I will get there," he said. "An obsession? No ... The rest is about enjoying it, enjoying every day."
Staying On His Own Terms
Ronaldo acknowledged that Portugal's World Cup exit had prompted him to think about his international future, but said conversations with the Portuguese FA and with Jesus convinced him to carry on.
"They count on me. I still believe that I'm able to help the national team," he said. "The most important point is to be able, inside the pitch, to score goals and help the team to win games."
He was equally blunt about the conditions attached to staying. "If the manager doesn't count on me, I can leave today - no problem at all," Ronaldo said. "When I feel that I'm not doing anything here, that I'm not contributing on the pitch, not scoring goals, creating a bad atmosphere, or that they don't want me here, I'll be the first to pack my bags."
Pressed on retirement, he declined to give a clear answer either way. "I learnt something from my late 30s onwards, which is to live in the moment, don't think about tomorrow," he said. "Is it possible? Yes. Highly likely? Yes. But will it happen? No, I don't know."
He also pushed back on years of criticism from the media, saying outlets had been trying to "kill" him for years. "That's not going to happen under any circumstances - not even with a shotgun," he said. "And even so, I still manage to dodge the bullet."
