Photos: EFE

Again, in the quarter-finals of World Cup 2022 of this Saturday against Morocco, Fernando Santos held the replacement in the Portuguese team of Christian ronaldoneither as indisputable nor as untouchable as in the past, relegated out of the alignment main player in the decisive streak, for the second consecutive time 18 years later, on the pitch from minute 50, eliminated from the only competition that will be missing from his magnificent CV, ending his last chance in tears.

The special one football player able to score a goal in five world cups He will never be world champion. Nor would he reach his team’s highest mark, third place in England in 1966, or Eusebio as Portugal’s all-time top scorer in the World Cupwith 9 goals, one more than he scored Cristiano Ronaldo, who ends his adventure in the tournament of tournaments with the frustration of an unexpected goodbye in the quarter-finals, with the lonely path to the locker room. Dark. Deleted.

And in the substitute. When the team arrived at Al Stadium thumamasouth of Doha, scene of the biggest victory to date of the 2022 World Cup (the 7-0 with which Spain crushed Costa Rica on November 23), eleven was already public. One of the last to get off the bus, smiling, giving a thumbs up as he walked through the stadium gate, walking with his teammates to the locker room, one of the few not wearing listeners in the ears, he greeted the doorman at the entrance to take his place. Alternate.

With naturalwith the rest of the reserves, then entered the field of play 40 minutes before kick-off, between heater of the starting lineup. He looked from side to side, and proceeded to touch the ball like the others with his teammates, while electronic music sounded at full volume on the field, from the usual DJ who transform the hour before each duel in a nightclub to the rhythm of his mixing desk.

Then, under the coach’s orders, with the rest of the substitutes, the activation and warm-up began, for a few minutes, to touch the ball again and return to the locker room. One more. Or not so much. When every name in Portugal sounded in the megaphoneamong the music, among the general indifference, nothing else aroused enthusiasm (or whistles, depending on the side) number 7: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pepe gave him the captain’s armband, just as he entered the field to Ruben Neves (Joao Cancelo also replaced Raphael Guerreiro for the left side), and Cristiano touched the ball, drove it, dribbled and put it in the box. There was no finisher. Him and Goncalo Ramos, his replacement in the eleven in the last two games, together in attack. Also Joao Felix. Two generations separated by a decade and a half.

Cristiano asked for a fast ball from the ballboy, the clock was against him, the score too. Faulted later, he kept claiming the spherical, to act as captain, in chief, to command his companions. Did not hit a center Bruno Fernandes. He left a bullet with his chest for a colleague’s shot. Nobody came. There was no way for his team or for him to reverse the goodbye ahead Morocco. Not even when another left behind allowed the throwing of Joao Felix… And Bono’s magnificent save, which also captures Cristiano’s last chance, already in added time, on the ground after when Grandpa he missed a header that looked like 1-1.

At 37, in his fifth worldwho has the merit of being the only one to have scored in five World Cups, the Portuguese star is already undergoing the generational change in the national team, as he also experienced in selection Manchester United with Erik Ten Haag… Or in offers for a new destination.

He has only been a substitute in 8 of his last 186 games with the national team. Gives the dimension of the decision taken by Fernando Santos. The two times it happened in the World Cup was on the third group date, with his side seeded.

The World Cup is over for him. For all of Portugal.