Pele, LeBron James, Mbappe, ,Vinicius react as Ronaldo promise to always support Portugal
The photograph posted by Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday already had countless reactions in just a few hours after his national team, Portugal, was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the World Cup and Cristiano said goodbye to the dream of his life: to win a World Cup with his country.
This was the last chance that the Portuguese international had, as it was intuited and confirmed in the publication, Qatar would be the last World Cup he would play.
At 37 years old, the striker no longer performs as he used to, and even finished the last two games as a substitute.
His words sounded like a farewell to the national team, but that could not be confirmed.
The photograph with the caption has had such an impact that it has accumulated more than 19 million likes and almost a million comments, including those of several sports stars and celebrities.
Some of those to comment were as famous as Pele himself.
"Thanks for making us smile, my friend," wrote the Brazilian, who is in poor health, although the comment that has had the most repercussion has been that of Kylian Mbappe.
The Frenchman commented on the post with three emoticons: that of a crown, that of hands giving thanks and that of a goat, making reference to the fact that he is the greatest of all time.
Only with three emojis, the comment has had almost 500,000 likes and other players like Vinicius Jr were not far behind, also putting three emoticons: a sad face, hands thanking and a white heart, probably because of his past at Real Madrid.
Stars from other sports get involved
Another one that has stood out is LeBron James' comment. From GOAT to GOAT one could say, with all due respect to Michael Jordan and Leo Messi.
"Legend," wrote the basketball player, accompanied by more emojis.
All the achievements, both individual and collective that Ronaldo has recorded make him part of soccer history.
He will not be able to win the only remaining trophy, but he will always have the affection of the fans.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has spoken out for the first time on Portugal's elimination from the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Morocco.
It is widely believed that he will not play at a major tournament again for the Portuguese national team, or will at least not be at another World Cup.
"Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career. Fortunately I won many titles of international dimension, including for Portugal, but to put the name of our country on the highest foot in the world was my biggest dream," he started his post on his official Instagram account.
"I fought for it. I fought hard for this dream. In the five appearances, I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always alongside great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I gave everything. I left everything on the pitch. I never turned my back on fighting and I never gave up that dream," he continued.
"Sadly, the dream ended. It's not worth reacting in the heat of the moment. I just want everyone to know that a lot has been said, a lot has been written, a lot has been speculated, but my dedication to Portugal has never changed. I always fought for everyone's goal and I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country," he continued.
"There is not much more to say for now. Thank you Portugal. Thank you Qatar. The dream was nice while it lasted.... Now, I hope that time will be a good advisor and allow everyone to draw their own conclusions," he concluded.
Ronaldo has always been in the spotlight at the World Cup. First, because of his words to force his departure from Manchester United; then because he is the only player in history to score in five World Cups, then because of whether or not Bruno Fernandes' goal against Uruguay was his; and then for the debate about his starting place in the line-up.
Rumours followed the unattached player and Portugal around all tournament long, especially given there seemed to be a falling out with coach Fernando Santos.
