Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo arrives at a press conference ahead of his team’s World Cup round of 16 soccer match against Spain, Sunday, July 5, 2026, in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cristiano Ronaldo’s sometimes playful banter in a rare World Cup news conference resulted in an exchange between Portugal’s superstar and a reporter from Argentina.
Ronaldo took the moment on the eve of a round of 16 clash with border rival Spain to repeat something he has said a minimum of once before.
This sixth World Cup for the previous Manchester United and Real Madrid star shall be his last.
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“Vai ser o meu último mundial” 🗣️ Cristiano Ronaldo 😢#DAZNFIFAWC pic.twitter.com/aESFoNG9Tr
— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) July 5, 2026
“What stays with me is the people — the individuals who love you. I share hotels with the staff, Latino people, and people are spectacular memories. Yesterday on the flight, there was an Argentine flight attendant. And knew she was Argentine by the best way she checked out me: ‘I knew you were Argentine by the best way you checked out me. When you look away quickly, it means you don’t like Cristiano,’” Ronaldo said in translated remarks Sunday, breaking right into a smile.
“I need to enjoy what shall be my last World Cup to the fullest,” Ronaldo continued. “Hopefully, tomorrow won’t be my last match. That way, you may keep bashing me some more.”
Ronaldo, the profession leader in international goals with 146, made similar comments in a television interview late last 12 months, a couple of months after Portugal won the UEFA Nations League title with a riveting victory over Spain in a penalty shootout.
Most of the questions for the 41-year-old during a 25-minute session at the house of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys referred to what everybody within the packed room was assuming: This was it for Ronaldo.
Before the top, he joked with reporters that they were pushing him out the door. Nearly each time he did, though, he would turn philosophical.
“There’s nothing missing,” Ronaldo said. “God was so generous toward me. He gave me every thing I never expected to win, especially on the national team. And personally, the identical thing. So it’s having fun with every moment. I’m not going to be more Cristiano or less Cristiano because I win the World Cup. In fact, all of us have hopes, myself especially, and all of us want all of the conditions to win. But we all know that just one goes to win.”
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Ronaldo’s finale on soccer’s biggest stage — each time that happens — will come eight years after he was the oldest to record a World Cup hat trick at 33. That was in a 3-3 draw with Spain in a bunch stage opener considered one in every of the World Cup’s best matches, although each powers didn’t reach the knockout stage.
“To not say that we’ve to do man-to-man marking, but in certain areas of the sector you’ve got to bear in mind that he’s there,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said in translated remarks. “He’s got the talent, he’s got the category, and he’s got the standard, and at any moment he may be decisive for the sport. He may be the very best. So we’re well aware of this.”
Portugal is trying for a second consecutive trip to the quarterfinals. The one other time Portugal went deeper within the Ronaldo era was a semifinal run in his World Cup debut in 2006.
Ronaldo had the tying goal in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia within the round of 32. Three of his 11 World Cup goals have are available this tournament. It was a matchup of 40-somethings against Croatia’s Luka Modric, his former Real Madrid teammate who was in his fifth World Cup at 40.
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“What I actually have done throughout my profession is to regulate to the nuances of age, knowing that I’m not the player I was,” Ronaldo said. “But one thing I can understand very clearly is nothing has modified because I can still rating a goal. I hope I try this tomorrow, and if I don’t, I hope others on the team do.”
Barring a replay of his hat trick from 2018 in Russia, Ronaldo is unlikely to challenge the Golden Boot co-lead of seven shared by Lionel Messi of Argentina and France’s Kylian Mbappé, who even have a considerable edge on the profession World Cup goals list.
Messi set the record on this tournament and now has 20, while Mbappé is as much as 19. Ronaldo sometimes bristles about where he stands amongst his rivals. But not on a day he reiterated his inevitable World Cup end.
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“Besides some different opinions that you will have, I’m not doing so bad, right?” Ronaldo said. “, I scored three goals. Well, there are others that scored more, because they’re doing incredibly well, but I’m not doing so bad. And I want to proceed onward.”
For a minimum of yet one more World Cup game.