According to a report from Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola, the recent controversy involving Ronaldo and Portugal national team coach Roberto Martínez has sparked widespread debate in local media. The article argues that while Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in Portuguese football history, as he ages, the national team must gradually address how to manage his playing time and plan for the team's future.

First, I want to say this: Thank you, Cristiano! Thank you for everything.

Ronaldo is the greatest player in Portuguese football history, one of the most exceptional talents of all time in world football, and one of the greatest athletes in sports history. He possesses fierce competitive spirit and represents one of the greatest personal comeback stories in Portuguese history.

And we have been fortunate to witness it all.

We watched the skinny, stubborn boy from Madeira grow up. We watched Sporting Lisbon's youngster develop into a world-class player. We watched Manchester, Madrid, and Juventus. We watched the Ballon d'Ors, the goals, the championships, the tears, the failures, the comebacks, the records, and his almost superhuman ability to turn the impossible into reality, time and again.

We watched Ronaldo become Ronaldo. We also watched a Portuguese man stand at the top of the world, in a country where mediocrity is often claimed to be destiny.

Nothing that happens now can erase any of that.

But one word has become especially important in recent days: "was." Ronaldo was the best. Now he isn't. That's not his fault—it's the iron law of time. This isn't criticism. This is life. This is football.

The problem lies with those who want the past to continue dominating the present. Because the past matters. It's memory, identity, history. But it doesn't play on the pitch.

If Ronaldo were Norwegian, would anyone want to drop Haaland from the lineup just because Ronaldo was once the best in the world? If he were French, would Mbappé have to leave the starting eleven simply because Ronaldo once reached the peak? If he were English, would Kane lose his starting spot for the same reason? Of course not.

Then why should it be different just because he's Portuguese?

The Portuguese national team is not a museum, nor a monument to Ronaldo. It's a football team. And in a football team, who plays on the pitch is decided by the coach. Roberto Martínez reminded everyone of this, including Ronaldo.

For this reason, we must now acknowledge the coach's courage.

Not every decision Martínez makes will be right—only the pitch can prove that—but his position has a crucial point: always prioritizing the team's interests over individual status.

It was Martínez himself who explained that he had given Ronaldo a longer warm-up than necessary, which is why the player was upset. For those who understand coaching, this appears to be an unusually restrained and surprising gesture—an attempt to handle the problem respectfully with the player.

Then in Copenhagen, his statement ignited the emergence of "Cristiano-ism": "I'm in charge of this team." And an equally direct statement: "The rules apply to everyone."

Exactly. Finally. A team where the coach is in charge. That's quite a revolutionary concept.

Martínez didn't end Ronaldo; he ended the idea that "one player is above the team." He ended the idea that "past glory automatically guarantees a future." He ended the idea that "a legend's greatness determines the size of the starting lineup."

That's not how it should be, and it never should be.

Ronaldo is too great to need any of this. And that's precisely what troubles me most about this situation. Everything we've witnessed in recent days is unworthy of a legend like Ronaldo, unworthy of his career, and certainly unworthy of wearing the captain's armband for the national team. More importantly, it's unfair to him. Because Ronaldo's career was built on rejecting privilege. His greatness comes from hard work, discipline, an obsession with self-improvement, a hunger to be better, and a refusal to accept limits. As a boy, he wanted to earn his place, not have it handed to him.

Perhaps this is the cruelest irony. The man who transformed childhood humility into a work ethic, resilience, and character seems to have lost these qualities along the way, crushed by the massive scale of the CR7 machine. The brand, the empire, the contracts, the millions, the constant appearances, the roles.

All of this perhaps makes it difficult for him to accept a truth that every great athlete must eventually face: time always wins. No money can buy it, no status can freeze it, no Ballon d'Or can slow it down.

Ronaldo cannot purchase immortality. And that's a good thing. Because of this, sport remains human, and because of this, he becomes a lesson.

Ronaldo was the best of all time. Now he isn't. Saying this doesn't diminish Ronaldo's value. What truly diminishes it is trying to deny this obvious truth.

So what troubles me most about this isn't the bench, isn't the substitution, and isn't the debate about who should play. It's witnessing a legend turn the final chapter of an extraordinary career into a power struggle, a dispute over status and authority.

Ronaldo deserves a dignified farewell. He still does. But a dignified farewell doesn't mean leaving exactly as we wish.

Sometimes, dignity means knowing when to step away. That too is greatness.

Pelé remained Pelé after retirement. Maradona remained Maradona after retirement. Eusébio remained Eusébio after retirement. Federer remained Federer after retirement. Carlos Lopes and Rosa Mota also didn't lose themselves after retirement.

Time didn't take away their greatness; it only took away their present. Ronaldo deserves the same distinction.

So now is the time to thank him. A thank you so large, so immense that no shirt, statue, or ceremony could contain it. Thank you for his goals. Thank you for his championships. Thank you for his tears. Thank you for those magical nights. Thank you for taking Portugal to the top of the world. Thank you for showing countless children that talent alone isn't enough without hard work. Thank you for proving that a boy from Madeira could reach places once thought impossible. Thank you for everything.

Now is the time to support Roberto Martínez, the team, and the coaching staff of the federation. Not against Ronaldo, but for the Portuguese national team. Because the national team must be able to exist beyond any single player, and Roberto Martínez must be able to coach.

Those talking about "betrayal" seem to forget who Roberto Martínez is. The coach tried to explain what happened in Oslo and even acknowledged that he gave Ronaldo a longer warm-up than necessary. This wasn't a declaration of war but an attempt to address a problem. Then in Copenhagen, he made clear: the coach is in charge of the team, and the rules apply to everyone. This is how a team should function.

Anyone who doesn't accept this, regardless of their status, doesn't understand hierarchy, let alone what it means to captain the national team.

On the pitch, Portugal proved in the Norway match that they can win without Ronaldo in the starting lineup.

But make no mistake. Going forward, results will matter more than ever.

Every victory will be used to prove Martínez right. Every defeat will put Ronaldo back at the center of the debate. Every goal by the forward will be compared to CR7's. Every poor performance will raise the inevitable question: "What if Ronaldo were on the pitch?"

This is a trap, just as it's unfair to blame Ronaldo for Portugal never becoming world champions under his leadership. Therefore, the team must play well, and Ronaldo must calmly decide how he wants to write the final chapter of his story.

Because he still has choices. He can leave as a legend. Or he can create one final important legacy: a lesson that even the greatest must accept that time moves on.

Ronaldo was the best of all time, and no one can take that away from him.

It has been a privilege to witness him emerge, develop, and conquer the world. As a Portuguese person, it's an even greater privilege that he wore the national team jersey. It's a privilege to have witnessed a career we may never see again.

Thank you, Cristiano, but now let the national team play. Let Roberto Martínez coach. Let other players develop. And let your life return to what it should be: an extraordinary story, not a battle to continue doing everything you once did.

Because football isn't a tribute ceremony; it's a game. And the next match never happens yesterday.

Perhaps it was the day Roberto Martínez understood this that "Cristiano-ism" finally ended.

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