Cristiano Ronaldo says goodbye to Portugal: one Euro Cup, two Nations and legendary numbers
Cristiano Ronaldo has surprised the world of football with his goodbye from the national team Portugal. The 41-year-old star will no longer represent his country, a bittersweet ending as it comes after his scare in the last international window and his clash with the new coach Jorge Jesus. But his legacy with the Seleçao das Quinas is already legendary: a Euro Cup and two Nations League. In addition, he has accumulated several records since he debuted on August 20, 2003, at just 18 years old, in a friendly against Kazakhstan.
In total Cristiano Ronaldo has won three titles with Portugal. The first, and most important, was the 2016 Euro Cup. The Portuguese team won the final against the host France 1-0 thanks to a goal from Eder in the 109th minute of extra time. CR7 was the captain and scored 3 goals in the tournament although he missed a large part of the decisive match when he was injured in the 25th minute and had to be substituted.
Three years later, the Lusitanians achieved another renowned title, the Nations League 2018/19. In the final they won again by the minimum, 1-0, this time against the Netherlands with a goal from the now player txuri urdin Goncalo Guedes. Cristiano Ronaldo shone in the semi-finals, achieving a hat trick in the semi-finals against Switzerland (3-1). Finally, in the Nations League 2024/25Portugal won the title again this time by beating Spain on penalties after tying at 2 in regulation time. CR7 was the protagonist, scoring the winning goal against Germany in the semifinals and making it 2-2 against De la Fuente’s team, which took the match to penalties. He closed the edition with 8 goals.
Furthermore, Cristiano Ronaldo was runner-up at Euro 2004, held in Portugal, semi-finalist at 2012, fourth at the 2006 World Cup and third at the 2017 Confederations Cup. As an individual, his numbers are memorable.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 146 goals and 45 assists in 234 games for Portugal. In the World Cup qualifying phase he has scored 41 goals (a historical record), the same as in the Euro Cup qualifiers. In the Nations League he scored 15 goals, 14 in the Euro Cup, 11 in the World Cup and 2 in the Confederations. The rest of the goals, 22, were scored in friendlies.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals in major tournaments
In the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 11 goals in 27 games played in six editions. He was the first footballer to score in six World Cups and his highest scoring edition was Russia 2018 with 4 goals, three of them against Spain in the remembered 3-3.
In the Euro Cup Cristiano Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 30 games spread over six editions. He holds the historical records for matches and goals in the final phase. In Euro 2020 he took the title of top scorer with 5 goals to which he added an assist.
Other scoring data: favorite rivals and how he scored them
Cristiano Ronaldo closes his legacy with Portugal having achieved ten games with three or more goals, including two with four. He scored in 96 games and the Portuguese won 81 of them. His most punished rivals were Luxembourg (11), Hungary (9) and Armenia, Lithuania and Sweden (7 each).
85 of his goals were scored with his right foot, 33 with his left foot and 28 with his head. This total must include 23 penalties and 11 direct fouls. 38 of his 146 goals came from the 76th minute onwards. In short, numbers only within the reach of a historic star who faces the end of his career by saying goodbye to his Portugal.
