Cristiano Ronaldo is missing, but he is not gone.
Portugal’s captain was left out of the World Cup warm-up fixtures against Mexico and the United States after suffering a muscular problem for Al-Nassr on February 28, a minor setback that has stirred a familiar debate: how long can he keep doing this at 41?
For now, the answer from Roberto Martinez is clear. This is precaution, not farewell.
Ronaldo is currently training away from the main group in Riyadh, working on his recovery while the national team fine-tunes without him. The medical staff are monitoring him daily, and the decision to keep him out of the international window has been framed as protection, not concern over a breakdown.
Martinez has been at pains to underline that point. The injury is described as minor, the expectation is that Ronaldo will be back in training and playing next week, and the standards he is still asked to meet are the same as everyone else in a squad built to compete at the highest level.
The numbers back up why Portugal still build around him. Since his debut in 2003, Ronaldo has scored 143 goals in 226 appearances for his country, a haul that has redefined what longevity looks like in international football. Even now, deep into the late phase of his career, his output remains startling: 25 goals in his last 30 games on the pitch.
That is why Martinez talks about him not as a veteran to be managed out of the picture, but as a reference point. Ronaldo remains captain, the dressing-room standard-bearer, the player younger teammates watch to understand what “elite” actually means. The coach highlights his hunger, his daily drive to improve, and the way he embodies the values Portugal want to project.
On the field, the role is more specific but no less decisive. Martinez points to Ronaldo’s influence in the final third, his movement in the box, that instinctive ability to appear where the goal is about to be scored rather than where the ball currently sits. Strip away the age, and he is still treated as a key piece in how Portugal plan to hurt opponents.
Yet every strain, every missed camp, brings the same question back to the surface: when does this end?
Martinez refuses to play that game. Asked about a possible date for retirement, he admits there is no timeline and no point pretending otherwise. Ronaldo, he says, does not map out his exit. He lives inside the present, obsessed with being the best version of himself right now, not with crafting a farewell tour.
So the conversation pauses, but it does not disappear. Ronaldo stays in Riyadh, working alone, his minutes carefully managed, his body checked session by session. Portugal move on to their warm-up fixtures without him, but not beyond him.
The clock keeps ticking. For the moment, Cristiano Ronaldo still keeps pace.
