THE Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, coach who launched Cristiano Ronaldo into the Portuguese national team, considered today that the striker, “one of the best footballers” he coached, made the right decision by concluding his career with the ‘quinas’ team.
“I’m happy that he made this decision. He will always be with me and in my heart, which is for Portugal, for him, for the people I met and spent time with there. He did well, he’s calm, he made the right decision and he was one of the athletes that Portugal will never forget”, said Scolari, through a video message released by the communications department of Grêmio, the club where he is the technical coordinator.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, announced today his withdrawal from the Portuguese football team, in a video posted on social media, the day before the squad for the last two games in the group stage of the Nations League were announced.
“He was one of the great players I had the honor of managing, not only as a footballer, but as a human being. He did everything we wanted him to do, he achieved everything he wanted, because he worked hard for it. He always had above average ability”, praised Luiz Felipe Scolari, Portuguese coach between 2003 and 2008.
The first to call up Cristiano Ronaldo, just 18 years old, to the main team, in a private duel against Kazakhstan, in 2003, in Chaves, thanked the Madeiran, with whom he shared the bad memory final of Euro2004, in Lisbon.
“As a friend and admirer, I will never forget everything he did with me and all his colleagues. It wasn’t just me who spoke well, it was through Flávio Murtosa (Scolari’s former assistant) that we went to see Ronaldo and he was the spectacular and wonderful person and player he was. I always wish him the best”, he expressed.
World record holder for national team games, with 234 ‘AA’ caps, and goals (146), the striker’s career highlights include winning Euro2016, in France and two editions of the Nations League, in 2019 and 2025.
On September 30, the player left the national team training camp on the eve of the match against Denmark in the League of Nations, at the beginning of Jorge Jesus’ cycle as coach of the national team.
Ronaldo, who was a starter with Wales and an unused substitute with Norway, revealed that Jesus failed to speak to him more than once and that’s why he decided to leave the internship, a decision that cost him a 30-day ban, already served, and a fine of 255 euros.
