Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright are in agreement that Cristiano Ronaldo needs to leave international football behind him.
Portugal were one of the favourites to go all the way at Euro 2024 but were knocked after losing to France on penalties in the quarter-finals on Friday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo started all five matches up front for his side but failed to find the net in any of them.
It is likely that he has played his last tournament for his country as he will be 41 at the next World Cup and Keane, Neville and Wright think it is the time to walk away.
Wright said on Stick to Football: The Overlap Special, brought to you by Sky Bet: ‘Portugal should be very disappointed about that [going out of EURO 2024] simply because of how good their team is – when you look at them from defence to attack.
Ian Wright, Gary Neville and Roy Keane think Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal career may be over
Ronaldo had a European Championship to forget, failing to score in all five matches
‘The way he [Cristiano Ronaldo] played in EURO 2024, as great as he’s been, surely Diogo Jota must be disappointed that he couldn’t get on that pitch.
‘What I saw of him [Cristiano Ronaldo], he can’t cut it at this level now. As good as he is, as fit as he is, as driven as he is, you can see he just can’t quite get it out of his feet to get a shot in, the movement with a header, he can’t get past a defender now.’
Keane added: ‘He [Cristiano Ronaldo] should have a break and step back from international football, and if he’s still playing at club level, then have a look at the World Cup when it comes around.
‘We look at [Harry] Kane when Kane’s quite off it, and your main goal scorers not at it, you’re playing with ten men. When you’re playing at the highest level, you really can’t carry anybody. His [Cristiano Ronaldo] movement is still there – against France, brilliant.
‘He [Cristiano Ronaldo] can carry on playing, but just not international football. How many footballers do we know that have stopped playing international football at a younger age and obviously carried on having a club career.
‘Part of your decision making [when you’re coming to the end of your career] is to step back to let other players learn. You could be holding people back and that’s not good for the bigger picture [of the team].’
Neville then proposed that Ronaldo’s presence could be detrimental to the team.
‘This dynamic of unbelievable desire, self-fight, determination – all those things that you love about him [Cristiano Ronaldo] – how overbearing is it for the rest of the players and the manager and the country?’
‘There’s two things – one, the player sometimes knows when to let it go, but there are some players who don’t and need telling but there is an element of who tells him [Cristiano Ronaldo].’
‘I don’t think he’s [Cristiano Ronaldo] got it in him. At the end of the day, I’m not saying that if they [Portugal] had played with Diogo Jota they would have done better at this tournament or not do better, but that overbearing nature of his presence is huge – it was at [Manchester] United at the end.’
To watch the third episode of Stick to Football: The Overlap Special, fans can tune in to ITV1 & ITVX on Monday 8th July at 11.40pm or watch it on The Overlap YouTube channel.
