Cristiano Ronaldo collected the inaugural Nations League trophy from UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and briefly slung it over his back like a shotgun before joining his teammates for the celebrations and fireworks.
It was a moment to capture the nonchalant swagger of a sportsman who was the master of all he surveyed. A year earlier in 2018, Ronaldo had stunned the footballing world by ending his history-making stint at Real Madrid and joining Juventus.
He scored 21 goals in his maiden Serie A season as Juve stormed to Scudetto glory. The 2018 World Cup hadn't gone completely to plan, with Portugal knocked out in the last 16.
But that defeat came against a fine Uruguay side, where an inspired Edinson Cavani netted a sublime brace in a 2-1 victory. Disappointing, yes, but not a debacle.
From a Portuguese perspective, the enduring memory of that campaign in Russia was Ronaldo's herculean hat-trick to snatch a 3-3 draw against old enemies Spain in the group stage.
After winning and converting an early penalty and benefitting from a David De Gea howler, Cristiano dispatched a stunning 88th-minute free-kick to grab a point.
MORE: Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial | Part 10: Mutiny
It was a bravura performance, one to rank alongside his incredible heroics against Sweden and Ibrahimovic in 2013. However, such exploits did not feel quite as necessary anymore. Fernando Santos' merry men who banded together for their Euro 2016 heist were now bolstered by an influx of exceptional players. Arguably the latest golden generation.
Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves were among the players called up for the 2019 Nations League Finals on home soil who were not involved at Euro 2016.
Ronaldo still fired another rollicking hat-trick in the semi-final win over Switzerland— treble number seven of an international haul that now stands at 10 match balls — but this could now be an ensemble effort, as evidenced by the 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final, where player of the tournament Bernardo teed up Goncalo Guedes for the winner.
🇵🇹 Ronaldo's best game for Portugal so far?
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 5, 2020
⚽️ #OTD in 2019, @Cristiano scored three against Switzerland!@selecaoportugal | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/DFijqG6nJB
It meant an evening of joyous celebration at Porto's Estadio do Dragao, doing as much as possible to exorcise the teenage Ronaldo's heartache at the same venue against Greece 15 years earlier.
This was a team and a coach with the winning habit, with the promise of more riches to come and a group of exciting players who could mitigate the effects of any decline that might hinder their inimitable talisman in his advancing years.
All of that seemed plausible and even likely in the warm afterglow on the banks of the Douro, but it has not panned out that way. When Santos relaxes into retirement, as most expect, at the end of his Portugal tenure, he will be a deeply loved and admired figure — the man who got the Selecao over the line and proved the perfect foil for Ronaldo in 2016.
MORE: MESSI & RONALDO: DESTINATION MUNDIAL | HOME
But the attributes that made him ideal for that moment have increasingly come to be viewed as a hindrance. A pragmatic coach plotting a miserly route through a tournament with a limited squad was one thing; the sight of Santos being largely unable to shift gears when bequeathed with a fresh batch of attacking talent has been unbecoming.
They were caught horribly between two stools in the second game of Euro 2020, when Germany's wingbacks ran roughshod over the Selecao defence to rack up a 4-2 win in what remains a heavily one-sided rivalry.
Ronaldo opened the scoring in that match in Budapest and he finished the group stage with five goals. He netted doubles in the 3-0 win over Hungary and a high-quality 2-2 draw against a Karim Benzema-inspired France, with three of those penalties.
That haul meant he finished as joint top scorer alongside the Czech Republic's Patrick Schick, despite a gruelling 1-0 loss to Belgium in the last 16. It means Santos' Portugal head to the 2022 World Cup without a major knockout-stage win to their name since Euro 2016.
Towering individual numbers from Ronaldo masking collective dysfunction have been a theme of the recent past. When he completed the long-awaited feat of moving clear of Iran's Ali Daei to become the most prolific goalscorer in the history of international football, goals 110 and 111 of his career doubled up as a late World Cup qualification salvage job against the Republic of Ireland. Santos' side were facing defeat in Faro, with Ronaldo having a first-half penalty saved by Ireland goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu before John Egan opened the scoring in first-half injury time.
Ultimately, the great man would not be denied, finding a typically towering header on the end of Guedes' 89th-minute cross. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, he repeated the trick and peeled off his shirt to bask in yet another moment of historic triumph.
Around that time, in the months after an emotional return to Manchester United, Ronaldo was also plundering late Champions League goals to bail out his misfiring club side. In December 2021, he burst through the landmark of 800 career goals, but there were uncomfortable questions to address.
Should Ronaldo have had to be performing semi-regular miracles in teams where he was surrounded by other gifted players? And how culpable was he in such miracles being required in the first place?
As the various records showed, he remained a goalscorer without compare and, as his physical gifts inevitably declined with age, he masterfully refined his craft. The all-action wrecking ball, a tornado of muscularity, stepovers and Exocet shots, was gone.
Ronaldo now limited his work to the final third and generally in between the goalposts. Sheer weight of numbers made the effectiveness of this evolution hard to argue with. How could the guy scoring more goals than everyone else possibly be the problem? He scored 31 goals as Juventus won Serie A by a point in 2019/20.
The following season he was the division's top scorer with 29, but Juve – playing under their third coach in three years – ceded the Scudetto for the first time since 2010/11. The Champions League glory that Ronaldo was brought in to inspire was no closer to fruition.
And so, back to Manchester. He thrilled Old Trafford with a brace on his second debut against Newcastle. Another double to burgle a draw at Atalanta at the start of November meant he had nine in 11 matches but, before the month was out, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been sacked as a United side that had finished as runners-up to Manchester City in the previous Premier League season descended into mid-table shambles.
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick and long-term successor Erik ten Hag each did not see eye-to-eye with Cristiano, most notably the Dutchman who has confined him to a peripheral role after a late return to pre-season training.
That was on account of a family issue but unhelpfully came amid widespread reports that Ronaldo was trying to engineer a move away from United. Those efforts were stepped up this week via an incendiary interview with Piers Morgan.
In terms of a bridge burning at United, it feels like a purpose has been bluntly and crudely served. But what of the Selecao and Santos, the one who has not perished amid association with Ronaldo over the past four years? The five-time Ballon d'Or winner turns 38 in February. At a time when he should be starting to luxuriate in the deeds of a magisterial career, he has cast himself in the eyes of many as an embittered man approaching middle age unwilling to accept the passage of time.
Most neutrals would probably lean in Lionel Messi's direction in the eternal argument at this stage, hesitantly or otherwise. Unless, of course, he manages to win the World Cup.
Remember his words in the Stade de France dressing room six-and-a-half years ago. "We did it. Nobody believed in Portugal, but the truth is we did."
Drawn in a tough group alongside Uruguay, Ghana and South Korea in Qatar, very few people believe in Portugal or Ronaldo this time around either.
Perhaps he has us all exactly where he wants us.
Credits and acknowledgements
The Sporting News was fortunate enough to speak to a number of experts on Portuguese and Argentine football to enhance the Messi & Ronaldo: Destination Mundial series. We would like to thank the following people for their time and input – please do check out their superb work.
Santi Bauza: Argentinian football journalist and content creator, whose credits include Copa 90, CNN and Hand of Pod.
Dan Edwards: Freelance football journalist based in Argentina, formerly the long-time South America correspondent for Goal.com.
Peter Coates: Editor of Golazo Argentino.
Simon Curtis: Portuguese football expert and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter.
Aaron Barton: Creator of English-language Portuguese football destination Proxima Journada.
Tom Kundert: Creator of PortuGOAL and co-author of The Thirteenth Chapter
Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg: Wall Street Journal sports reporters and authors of Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World's Game
READ: PART 12| AT LAST
