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New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Cristiano Ronaldo wins Nations League aged 40: ‘For Portugal, if I had to break a leg, I would'
In the end it was the 40-year-old man who was crying. Not the child with the runners-up medal. They were tears of joy as Cristiano Ronaldo, overcome with emotion, dropped to his knees after Ruben Neves converted the penalty that won Portugal the UEFA Nations League for the second time in six years. Love him or loathe him, Ronaldo has a magnetic attraction to silverware and nothing gives him greater satisfaction than celebrating success with his country. Advertisement His third trophy with Portugal was won on a night when the subplot involving him and Lamine Yamal was too good to ignore. Comparing players across different generations is always difficult, especially when the game changes so much over time. But what about when two great players from different generations end up playing in the same game? 'One is coming in and another is exiting the stage. If you want to see me as another generation, then that's OK,' Ronaldo said on the eve of Sunday's final in Munich. It's hard to see Ronaldo any other way when Yamal is on the pitch with him. Yamal, after all, is only 17 years old. Ronaldo is 40. Yamal's father is younger than Ronaldo, and Yamal is only three years older than Ronaldo's eldest son, Cristiano Jr, who plays for Portugal Under-15s. A 23-year age gap on the pitch is unprecedented at a level of the game where fortysomethings are typically enjoying retirement or management and 17-year-olds are nowhere to be seen. That said, there's nothing about Ronaldo or Yamal that's typical. One of them belongs near the top of any conversation about the greatest ever footballers ('I am the best in history,' Ronaldo told the journalist Edu Aguirre in February). The other is a teenage phenomenon who is one of the leading contenders for the Ballon d'Or at an age when he still isn't old enough to drive a car in Spain. 'Two galaxies colliding' was the headline above the match preview in the Spanish newspaper Marca. Ultimately, though, it was a 22-year-old left-back who played like he was on another planet. Nuno Mendes, the Portugal and Paris Saint-Germain defender, was the best player on the pitch by a distance, so much so that he did more to shape the narrative around the Ronaldo and Yamal contest than anyone else, including both of them. After scoring Portugal's first equaliser with a powerful angled drive, Mendes set up the second, which Ronaldo converted to register his 138th goal for his country in 221 caps. Either side of those two goals, Mendes was outstanding up against Yamal, handling the Barcelona winger as well as – if not better – than anyone we have seen up until now. Yamal was withdrawn during the interval in extra-time, by which point he had spent longer chasing Mendes than Mendes had spent chasing him. Quite simply, it wasn't Yamal's night and you got the feeling that it might turn out that way as early as the fourth minute, when Ronaldo, of all people, dispossessed him and launched a Portugal counter attack. Advertisement There's no need for a post-mortem into where it all went wrong for Yamal. He's still a kid. In fact, maybe we already expect too much from him and assume he will be brilliant every time he sets foot on the pitch, just as he was against France in the semi-final in Stuttgart on Thursday night. That, however, is not how elite football works. 'Let him grow, do not put him under pressure, so we can enjoy a talent like this for many years,' Ronaldo warned beforehand. How much longer we will enjoy Ronaldo's talent is anyone's guess. In the eyes of many, he has been out of sight and out of mind ever since leaving Manchester United in December 2022 to sign for the Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr. For Portugal, however, he remains a permanent fixture in their starting line-up and you get the feeling that will continue to be the case until the day he decides otherwise, rather than any manager. Against Spain, he only touched the ball 22 times and registered just one shot. In fact, he was on the periphery of the game for the first hour and generally making little in the way of a meaningful contribution, to the point that you briefly found yourself wondering whether Roberto Martinez, the Portugal coach, would have the courage and conviction to substitute his captain in search of some more dynamic movement up front and the second equaliser they badly needed. That thought didn't last long. Or, to put it another way, it lasted about as long as it took Mendes to sprint away from Yamal on the Portugal left and deliver a deflected cross that looped up invitingly for Ronaldo. Although Marc Cucurella was close by, realistically there was only going to be one winner and Ronaldo volleyed home. His pace has gone now but the instinct to be in the right place at the right time when a chance comes along is as strong as ever. It was the 938th goal of Ronaldo's career – a silly number, really – and extended his own record as the leading scorer in international football in the men's game (138). 'I have not seen anyone like me. Numbers don't lie,' he said in that same interview with Aguirre in February. There's an argument we haven't seen anyone like Yamal either, certainly not in the modern game at his age. This was his 21st cap for Spain (15 direct goal involvements) and he has already played 106 times for Barcelona, scoring 25 goals and registering 34 assists for his club (per Transfermarkt). Advertisement To put those figures into perspective, when Ronaldo was Yamal's age he was still eight months away from winning his first cap for Portugal and he had featured in only 16 first-team matches for Sporting Lisbon (Lionel Messi hadn't made his debut for Argentina either at that age, in case you were wondering). Yamal's numbers are off the scale in that respect and if he continues on this trajectory, by the time he reaches Ronaldo's age he will be… don't worry, we're not going to project nearly a quarter of a century of football on the back of two seasons as a teenager. What we wouldn't rule out, though, is that Ronaldo will still be playing for Portugal at that point, keeping an ever-patient Goncalo Ramos out of the team at the age of 63. Ramos replaced Ronaldo in the 88th minute against Spain – a decision that Ronaldo essentially made himself when he dropped to the floor in the centre circle, bringing the game to a halt and cursing into the night sky after his body finally gave up on him. 'I had already felt it during the warm-up, I had been feeling it for some time,' he explained, via Record. 'But for the national team, if I had to break a leg, I would. It's a title, I had to play and I gave my all, I went as far as I could. I helped with a goal.' Whatever anyone thinks of Ronaldo, his desire to play, score and win burns as fiercely as ever, and the joy on his face in the scenes of celebration at the end was almost child-like. Yamal, Ronaldo said afterwards, is a 'phenomenon' who is going to 'win many titles and have a very long career.' It's hard to argue with any of that. Whether Yamal will be winning them at the age of 40, though, is a different matter. ()
The Irish Sun
18-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Watch Cristiano Ronaldo Jr score first goals for Portugal U15s and celebrate in the only way possible
CRISTIANO RONALDO JR is proving to be a chip off the old block - and even celebrates like his dad. The 14-year-old scored a brace for Portugal in the final of the Vlatko Markovic International Tournament on Saturday. 3 Cristiano Ronaldo Jr netted the opener for Portugal under-15s against Croatia Credit: X 3 After smashing in off the crossbar, the 14-year-old ran off to celebrate Credit: X 3 He performed the iconic Siu celebration made famous by his dad Credit: X And the teenager needed just 12 minutes to open the scoring against the hosts. Ghosting into the box from the left wing, Cristiano Jr was played in after a teammate's mazy run. From a tight angle, he smashed in a sublime first-time shot off the crossbar. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL Cristiano Jr sprinted off towards the corner flag to celebrate his first international goal. And he couldn't resist mimicking his dad's One fan wrote in response: "Like father like son. SIU tradition lives." Another said: "The moment he gets a taste of scoring, he won't stop." Most read in Football BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK While a third joked: "I'm seeing double here, two Ronaldos!" Cristiano Jr has been eyed by scouts from a host of European clubs, Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, 14, given dad's number and copies iconic pose as he makes Portugal debut with grandma watching And he was on the scoresheet again later in Saturday's match. With the scores locked at 1-1, Portugal went ahead again as the 14-year-old planted a header in at the far post. Earlier in the tournament, five-time Ballon d'Or winner A proud CR7 told his 115 million followers: "Congratulations on your debut by @selecaoportugal, son. Very proud of you!" Inside Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible life AS arguably the greatest player of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo lives a life befitting such a superstar. Ron loves a fast motor almost as much as scoring goals with his Upon moving to Saudi - Ronaldo moved into a As a globetrotter, Ronaldo likes to travel in style like onboard Behind every great man is a great woman, and Ronaldo has one in Georgina opened up on the Before meeting Georgina, Now it's Ronaldo's very well paid on the pitch, but he makes a ton of money off it too with He's also a prolific investor and He's currently He's highly dedicated, as That dedication saw him Head here to read more on , 40, has remained prolific in front of goal this season for Al-Nassr, bagging 33 times in all competitions. But he has endured another trophyless season in Saudi Arabia. Al-Nassr are third in the Saudi Pro League - 11 points behind leaders Al-Ittihad. They were also knocked out of the Asian Champions League by Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale last month. Al-Nassr have not won the league title since Ronaldo signed in December 2022.
Scottish Sun
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Watch Cristiano Ronaldo Jr score first goals for Portugal U15s and celebrate in the only way possible
Scouts from two Prem clubs have already watched the teenager 'SEEING DOUBLE' Watch Cristiano Ronaldo Jr score first goals for Portugal U15s and celebrate in the only way possible Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CRISTIANO RONALDO JR is proving to be a chip off the old block - and even celebrates like his dad. The 14-year-old scored a brace for Portugal in the final of the Vlatko Markovic International Tournament on Saturday. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up Cristiano Jr just scored his first goal for Portugal u15s. 🇵🇹 And of course, he celebrated like his dad. — Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 18, 2025 3 Cristiano Ronaldo Jr netted the opener for Portugal under-15s against Croatia Credit: X 3 After smashing in off the crossbar, the 14-year-old ran off to celebrate Credit: X 3 He performed the iconic Siu celebration made famous by his dad Credit: X Cristiano Jr was handed the No7 shirt made famous by his dad for the under-15 showdown against Croatia. And the teenager needed just 12 minutes to open the scoring against the hosts. Ghosting into the box from the left wing, Cristiano Jr was played in after a teammate's mazy run. From a tight angle, he smashed in a sublime first-time shot off the crossbar. READ MORE ON FOOTBALL PEP TALK Pep Guardiola's furious 5-word message to Dean Henderson 'revealed' by lipreader Cristiano Jr sprinted off towards the corner flag to celebrate his first international goal. And he couldn't resist mimicking his dad's iconic 'Siu' celebration alongside his teammates. One fan wrote in response: "Like father like son. SIU tradition lives." Another said: "The moment he gets a taste of scoring, he won't stop." BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK While a third joked: "I'm seeing double here, two Ronaldos!" Cristiano Jr has been eyed by scouts from a host of European clubs, including Manchester United and Tottenham. Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, 14, given dad's number and copies iconic pose as he makes Portugal debut with grandma watching And he was on the scoresheet again later in Saturday's match. With the scores locked at 1-1, Portugal went ahead again as the 14-year-old planted a header in at the far post. They would eventually run out 3-2 winners. Earlier in the tournament, five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo took to social media to congratulate his son on his international debut. A proud CR7 told his 115 million followers: "Congratulations on your debut by @selecaoportugal, son. Very proud of you!" Ronaldo, 40, has remained prolific in front of goal this season for Al-Nassr, bagging 33 times in all competitions. But he has endured another trophyless season in Saudi Arabia. Al-Nassr are third in the Saudi Pro League - 11 points behind leaders Al-Ittihad. They were also knocked out of the Asian Champions League by Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale last month. Al-Nassr have not won the league title since Ronaldo signed in December 2022.
New York Times
07-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
A crazy classic as Inter beat Barca, Trump picks Giuliani Jnr for World Cup task force
The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic 's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox . Hello! It was the Champions League tie with a million sub-plots and more. Football just doesn't get any better. On the way: 👀 Inter stun Barca to reach final 🏆 Trump hands Giuliani 2026 role 🆚 Club World Cup showdown ☎️ Portugal call up Cristiano Jr Crazy classic: Inter beat Barcelona to reach CL final in match for the ages Two questions will be simultaneously haunting Barcelona this morning: how on earth did they come to be seconds from the Champions League final? And how on earth did they end up missing the boat? There are no easy answers. As for Inter — a club appropriately known as pazza, or 'crazy', in Italy — the same mystery in reverse. How, from leading by two goals twice in as box-office a semi-final as the Champions League could dream of (the joint highest-scoring in the tournament's history) were they seconds from elimination, yet are finalists at Barca's expense regardless? We'll try to explain. Revived by a 37-year-old centre-back I've seen mayhem in my time but Inter versus Barca goes down as a tie in which knockout punch after knockout punch failed to knock anybody out, until Inter's Davide Frattesi curled in the decisive goal of 13 across two legs (below). To quote one Inter fan within earshot of our James Horncastle: 'Has anyone got any oxygen?' Extra time was raging when Frattesi scored and marbles had been lost. Barcelona, who were no more inclined to go quietly, finally held their peace. So it is that Simone Inzaghi takes Inter to Munich, Germany, on May 31, driven by the sting of defeat to Manchester City in the 2023 final and aiming to emulate Jose Mourinho's 2010 Inter masterpiece. Across the entire semi, Barca led for a mere five minutes — yet Inter's heart had all but stopped beating before a 37-year-old revived them in the 93rd. Francesco Acerbi (below) was their unlikely defibrillator. Sensational Sommer Acerbi is a wizened, Italian centre-back with two decades as a professional behind him (not to mention a man who has twice recovered from diagnoses of testicular cancer). He's a one-goal a season man because that's simply not his job. Before last night, he'd never scored in Europe. But he was out of his comfort zone in added time at the end of normal time, because Inter were shattered and had no other stunts to pull. They trailed 3-2 on the night and 6-5 on aggregate when Acerbi drove a centre-forward's finish in at the near post. With his weaker foot. Where that came from, God knows. 'There'll never be another match like that,' said Frattesi, who made sure Acerbi's finish was divine intervention. What went before that was frankly baffling. Inter led 2-0 at half-time but retreated and pulled down the shutters. Without any possession and camped 35 yards out, against a team as phenomenal as Barca, it doesn't matter how elite your game management is; not when Lamine Yamal is free to line you up at will. The evening turned completely. Yamal had something freakish in his way at San Siro, though. The teenager hit the post seconds before Acerbi levelled things up. He missed a better chance straight after Acerbi's goal. The VAR denied him a penalty for a foul an inch outside the box. In extra time, he fell foul of a world-class save (below) from a world-class Yann Sommer, who made 14 saves all told in the tie. It wasn't Yamal's time. It wouldn't fall for Barca either, and they're now 10 years without a Champions League final appearance. But when the annals of football record this classic, they'll have a job articulating how. Barca defender Inigo Martinez has denied deliberately spitting at Acerbi after Inter scored their second goal in first-half added time. Neither the VAR nor the match referee took any action in the heat of the moment, despite Acerbi's furious complaints. Barca and UEFA are declining to comment. Catch today's match (Times ET/UK): Champions League semi-final second leg: Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal, 3pm/8pm — CBS, Paramount+, Fubo. News round-up CWC Face-Off: LAFC to play Club America for final tournament spot Another hot date could be set for May 31: the day when FIFA belatedly completes its line-up for the Club World Cup (CWC). One of 32 places is still up for grabs after Club Leon's expulsion for breaching multi-club ownership rules. Leon lost an appeal yesterday so their ticket will go to either Los Angeles FC or Club America. A one-game play-off between those teams is pending, and has been pencilled in for the last day of this month. LAFC are the highest-ranked Concacaf side who weren't already in the competition. Club America lost to Leon in the 2023 Copa Libertadores, the means by which Leon qualified in the first place. To that end, the match-up makes sense. Even so, it's a last-minute scramble. If May 31 is confirmed as showdown time, the winners will have a mere two weeks to get it together for the CWC itself. It's not ideal preparation — but then FIFA has been flying by the seat of its pants from the moment of the tournament's conception. Why should this be any more orderly? Here's an interesting aspect of Trent Alexander-Arnold's imminent free-agent move from Liverpool to Real Madrid. Will he play for Madrid at the CWC? The competition kicks off on June 14 but his contract at Anfield doesn't expire until July 1. Unless, of course, the clubs do a deal. Read on… Show Viz Premier League clubs are awash with cash, good and bad. In contrast, lower-league sides are mostly skint — so a certain Welsh team have broken the mould. Wrexham, plainly, are not skint, and the deeper you get into Chris Weatherspoon's dissection of their earnings and outgoings, the more you appreciate why they've been unstoppable in recent years, from the fifth-tier National League to the second-tier Championship. Their advance is like an inverted avalanche. Exhibit A: in 2023-24, when Wrexham were a League Two entity, their commercial revenue exceeded that of five Premier League clubs during the same season. For the record, those were Brentford, Bournemouth, Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town. Wrexham's overall income of £26.7m in the fourth division wasn't far off setting a record for League One, one level higher. How to live with that? The Championship is a slightly different world, though. While their wage bill will have increased in 2024-25, salary costs of £11m last season were miles below the second tier's average of £37.2m. They'll have to dig deep and close that gap. The bonus, however, is that Wrexham could lose £34m in 2025-26 and still comply with profit and sustainability (PSR) rules. In layman's terms, their spending power hasn't vanished. Chris isn't calling a fourth straight promotion but he's not counting it out either. And finally… In February, TAFC covered the social media accounts using tall tales (we're being generous here) about the sons of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for marketing purposes. If you missed it at the time, suspend disbelief and have a gander here. According to one post on X, Ronaldo Junior had scored 10 goals in a single junior game for Al Nassr while Thiago Messi was notching 11 in a fixture for Inter Miami. Chips off the old block, indeed… apart from the fact that neither reported feat was real. Both, however, are actual adolescent prospects and yesterday, Ronaldo Jr, aged 14, was called up to Portugal's youth ranks for the first time, as part of their under-15s squad. He might not have bagged 10 goals in one swoop but, given the genes, don't assume he doesn't have it in him. (Top photo:)
Malay Mail
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Malay Mail
‘Proud of you, son': Ronaldo Jr earns first Portugal U-15 call-up, dad celebrates
LISBON, May 7 — The next chapter of the Ronaldo legacy began yesterday when Cristiano Jr received his first call-up to Portugal's Under-15 squad, marking the start of what could become football's most compelling father-son succession story. The 14-year-old forward, currently developing at Al-Nassr's youth academy in Saudi Arabia, will join Portugal for a tournament in Croatia this month, facing Japan, Greece and England in his first taste of international football. 'Proud of you, son,' wrote 40-year-old Portugal captain Ronaldo on social media, sharing the squad announcement. The five-times Ballon d'Or winner, who led Portugal to the 2016 European Championship title, has scored a world record 136 goals in 219 internationals and will watch with parental pride as his eldest son looks to tread a similar path. Ronaldo Jr has already followed in his father's footsteps at club level, having played in the youth teams of the Portugal great's former clubs Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United, before moving to Saudi Arabia with his family. The teenager reportedly netted 58 goals during his stint in Italy, while clips of Ronaldo Jr mimicking his father's trademark 'Siu' celebration at Al-Nassr have gone viral. In 2022, Ronaldo said his son was eager to one day share the pitch with him. 'My son tells me, 'Dad, hold on a few more years, I want to play with you!'' he revealed at the time. Despite Ronaldo Jr being born in the US and spending much of his early childhood in Spain — granting him eligibility for three nations — his call-up by Portugal is likely an indication of his future international allegiance. For a country whose modern football identity has been shaped by his father's remarkable two-decade reign, Ronaldo Jr's inclusion in Portugal's under-15 squad could be the first step in a generational succession that will capture headlines. — Reuters
