Cristiano Ronaldo was included in Portugal’s squad by new coach Jorge Jesus for its upcoming Nations League games on Friday.
The 41-year-old Ronaldo said that this summer’s World Cup was his last, but the global star has yet to say when he plans to retire from international play. He will be 43 by the time the 2028 European Championship, the next major tournament, is held.
This was the first squad named by Jesus, who was hired to replace Spaniard Roberto Martinez after Portugal lost 1-0 to Spain in the round of 16 of the World Cup. Jesus’ previous coaching job was with Ronaldo’s club Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where they won the league together last season.
Regarding Ronaldo’s role, Jesus said “all the called-up players are at my disposal.”
“If he performs well, he plays. If he doesn’t perform well, he doesn’t play. That’s how I treat everyone,” Jesus said, before adding a caveat.
“Now, does Cris have a different status? Yes. His career is different,” he said. “He has five Ballon d’Or awards. But does that influence my decisions? No. It doesn’t influence anything, zero, but he is different from the others.”
The 72-year-old Jesus has also coached several Portuguese clubs, including Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.
Ronaldo is the leading scorer for men’s international soccer with 146 goals. His greatest achievement with Portugal was helping it win the 2016 Euros.
He is now chasing 1,000 career goals. He currently has 979. When asked if he imagined Ronaldo hitting that milestone, Jesus said he doubted it would be with Portugal.
“I think he’s more likely to score his thousandth goal for Al-Nassr than for the Portuguese national team,” Jesus said.
Portugal will open the Nations League by hosting Wales on Sept. 24. It plays Norway away three days later and then in Denmark on Oct. 1, before hosting Norway on Oct. 4.
Reporting by The Associated Press.