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February 17, 2026
Ronaldo's role with Portugal is changing, and the 2026 World Cup could define it. No longer a guaranteed starter, the veteran icon is evolving into something rarer in football, a bench general whose influence might matter more in tense moments than ninety relentless minutes ever could...
Forty years old. Six World Cups. The math doesn't care about legacy, and neither does the desert heat pressing down on North American stadiums next summer. Everyone's placing wagers now, searching for reliable betting tips on whether Cristiano Ronaldo starts or sulks, whether he breaks the scoring record or breaks the team chemistry. The truth is messier than the odds suggest. He's not the automatic starter anymore. Roberto Martinez isn't pretending otherwise.
Cristiano Ronaldo - Dominating the pitch with Portugal
Martinez runs this squad differently than Fernando Santos ever dared. Rotation isn't a dirty word now. It's survival. Three strikers packed for the tournament, not because Ronaldo's finished, but because he's forty. Forty. In football years that's archaeological. The body remembers every tackle, every aerial duel against center backs born when he was already famous. Martinez talks about "player comfort" and "belief-building" like he's constructing a psychological fortress, not just arranging cones on a training pitch. Smart managers adapt to their materials. You don't hammer with glass, and you don't sprint a forty-year-old into heat exhaustion that melts the mind before the muscles.
Nobody's done six World Cups. Not Pelé, not Matthäus, nobody. When Ronaldo laces up in 2026, he enters territory that doesn't exist on any map. Twenty-five years of wearing that shirt. Twenty-five years of pressure, temper tantrums, triumph, and that ridiculous hunger that made him special. This is definitely his last rodeo. He confirmed it himself, no ambiguity, no "we'll see" retirement tour nonsense. Final boss energy, except now he's playing support class.
The cameras catch him now, "very calm and very focused on the day-to-day." That's Martinez speaking, but you see it in the training ground clips. Less screaming at teammates, more whispering. Guiding. There's something almost paternal happening, which feels weird to write about a man who still celebrates like he's challenging the gods themselves. But age does things to athletes. Softens the edges while hardening the wisdom, maybe. Or perhaps he's just tired. Tired of carrying it alone.
It's strange watching icons become accessories. Like watching a Ferrari learn to be a pace car. But Portugal needs that specific arrogance, that conviction that they're supposed to win, even if the vessel delivering it only plays twenty minutes. The young ones, the Gonçalo Ramos types, they don't fear him anymore. Not the competitor who steals their minutes, but the legend who might actually help them steal theirs.
Martinez understands the calculus. "When Cristiano Ronaldo is doing well, it's very important for the national team." Well, yes. But "doing well" doesn't mean ninety minutes of pressing and sprinting into channels. It means existing in that locker room as a gravitational force. A reference point. The standard. The mentorship isn't formal. No PowerPoint presentations about work ethic. Just presence. Just being Cristiano Ronaldo in a room full of guys who grew up worshipping precisely that.
And let's be honest, there's going to be drama. There always is. Some knockout game, his number flashing on that electronic board. Does he jog or walk? Does he acknowledge the fans or ignore them? These details matter because we've built an entire mythology around his selfishness, his need to be the protagonist. But protagonists age. They become narrators. The story continues but the voice changes, roughened by experience, stripped of the high notes but gaining something in the gravel.
The betting markets are already chaos, offering odds on everything from his minute totals to whether he storms down the tunnel. But Martinez seems willing to risk that particular volcano erupting. Because the alternative, watching him dissolve into the turf by the quarterfinals, is worse. The heat in those American stadiums will be brutal. Humidity that wraps around your lungs like a wet towel.
Maybe he grabs the armband in that final substitution, passes it to someone who'll wear it for the next twenty years. Or maybe he just sits. Finally sits. And watches Portugal play on without him, because of him. Six tournaments. Think about that. From the scrawny winger in 2002 to whatever he is now. A monument that moves. A museum exhibit with abs. The 2026 World Cup won't be about his goals, not really. It'll be about whether he can step back without stepping away. Whether he can be smaller so Portugal can be bigger.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Al Nassr is on February 18, against Arkadag, for the AFC Champions League Two. You can watch Al Nassr vs Arkadag, Benfica vs Real Madrid, Club Brugge vs Atletico, Monaco vs Paris-Saint Germain, Galatasaray vs Juventus and Borussia Dortmund vs Atalanta, all matches provided from our live football game pages.
Al Nassr next game:
Al Nassr vs Arkadag kick-off time (18-02-2026):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 01:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 23:00
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+3: 20:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 18:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 17:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 14:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 13:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 10:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / tntsports.co.uk / beinsports.com
