01/10/2026
đ¨đ¨ Luis Figo on Portugal immediately giving Cristiano Ronaldoâs No.7 to Rafael Leao following his departure:
âI remember Cristianoâs first years with Portugal.
One day after training, some of the older players were talking and Cristiano was still outside doing something with the ball.
I looked over and said, âDoes this boy ever go inside?â
Someone said, âLeave him. He wants to become the best player in the world.â
I laughed.
Cristiano heard us.
He came over and said, âNot just the best. I want to do something for Portugal that people remember.â
I told him, âThen youâre going to suffer.â
He looked confused.
I said, âPlaying for your country is different. When things are good, everybody belongs to you. When things are bad, you still have to come back. Thatâs the deal.â
He said, âIâll always come back.â
I thought about that conversation today.
Because more than twenty years later, Cristiano finally left a Portugal camp, and his number given to Rafael instantly.
And instead of immediately asking why the boy who told us heâd always come back finally decided to walk away, everybody seems in a hurry to show how quickly football can continue without him.
That worries me.
Not because Portugal cannot continue without Cristiano.
Of course it can.
I worry about the 12-year-old Portuguese boy watching.
Maybe Cristiano is the reason he started playing football. Maybe number seven is on the back of every Portugal shirt heâs ever owned.
One day that boy might become the next star.
He might become somebody we havenât heard of yet.
And when he arrives at the national team, weâll tell him exactly what we told Cristiano.
âThis shirt is different.â
Sacrifice for it.
Play hurt for it.
Come whenever youâre called.
Put the country before yourself.
But children arenât stupid. Footballers arenât either.
Eventually one of them will ask the question nobody wants to hear:
âWhat happens when Iâve given Portugal everything?â
Thatâs why how you treat Cristiano at the end matters.
I remember another conversation with him years later.
By then he wasnât the skinny boy anymore. He was captain.
I joked, âYou said youâd do something Portugal would remember. I think theyâve noticed now.â
He laughed and said, âIâm not finished.â
That became Cristianoâs relationship with Portugal.
Never finished.
Lose a tournament, come back.
Get criticised, come back.
Get older, come back.
People tell you the next generation is ready, come back.
Until eventually, something happened and he didnât come back.
He packed his things and left.
Then he told the Portuguese people that one day he would explain âthe truth.â
I donât know what happened inside those conversations, so Iâm not going to invent it.
But if a relationship lasting more than twenty years ends like that, the federation shouldnât only be thinking about the player who walked out of the building.
They should be thinking about the boys watching him walk out.
Because one day Portugal will ask one of them for everything too.
And when that day comes, you donât want him remembering Cristiano Ronaldo and thinking:
âEverything?â
I told Cristiano all those years ago that playing for your country means always coming back.
Perhaps there was another part we should have told him.
Your country should give you a reason to.â
