Cristiano Ronaldo has finally met his match

Jorge Jesus may have won league titles across three continents, but flattening the world Cristiano Ronaldo built around himself may go down as his greatest success. Ronaldo’s stranglehold over Portugal’s national team is now, surely, over, and all it took was hiring a coach with something both Fernando Santos and Roberto Martinez lacked: a backbone. “Nobody f***s with Jesus” read GQ Portugal’s frontpage in 2015, when he was at Sporting having just won the title with Benfica, and this hardnosed approach has been noted by players since. Perhaps that it is why, after another failed World Cup campaign was spent pandering to Ronaldo, Portugal turned to Jesus in July, with this cutthroat grey-haired assassin – much like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air – appointed to oversee a firing others were too cowardly to undertake. For any other 41-year-old, that would be that, but Ronaldo does not want his Portugal story to be over. “I will be available” are just four words from Wednesday’s nauseating near 2,000-word statement, meaning reconciliation with or the sacking of Jesus are the only ways his international story continues. Reconciliation looks difficult. Ronaldo also said Jesus “failed to keep his word”, with the forward warming up from half-time but never coming on against Norway, the molehill that kickstarted this mountain of a tantrum. Jorge Jesus has shown the courage previous coaches have lacked (Photo: AFP) And more remarkable was point six of what Ronaldo claims were eight things Jesus had agreed to tell the press afterwards.“I made a mistake in having someone of the stature of Pele or Maradona warm up and then not putting him in the game. If it were today, I would not do it.” Hubris abounds – notably on the same night Lionel Messi bid a graceful farewell – but Jesus did not play along, making no such admissions, and that was another “broken promise” in Ronaldo’s eyes, where the blinkers are firmly on. But in turn the signs Ronaldo has finally met his match were evident in Jesus’ response. “I was at the Portugal Under-21s match. I did not have time for it,” he said. “Now I have time to read the statement.” Social media had a field day. With the statement already likened to Rachel’s infamous 18-page letter to Ross in Friends, here was Jesus championing TL;DR – too long; didn’t read – instantly belittling an essay Ronaldo and his team must have spent hours putting together. Jesus did then read it by Thursday, at least, merely adding: “Now, like I do every day, I’m going to the federation headquarters to work, to think about the Portuguese national team. I have nothing more to say.” That lacked the buckets of grovelling Ronaldo is used to, but Jesus does not fall into that camp. “It won’t be Cristiano, or any other player, who changes my ideas as a coach. Never. Neither him nor anyone else. Not even a president. Never. Zero,” Jesus said last week. Read more Kevin Garside: Cristiano Ronaldo is a 41-year-old child Special report: Man City in League Two? Here’s why EFL clubs are divided Nothing new. This echoed Jesus’ quotes from his time at Al-Hilal, when in 2023 he told an injury-plagued Neymar he was “finished” and would not feature. “What I see as best for the team is what I will do.” Jesus has steel, and while determining the hero and the villain from this remarkable fallout depends on one’s perspective, for many the 72-year-old is the adversary Ronaldo needs. They may have worked well enough to win a title together at Al-Nassr, but this second coming of Jesus in Ronaldo’s career was less about silverware and more about learning harsh truths. Few will expect Ronaldo to ever accept that age has caught up, but provided Jesus remains brave enough to finish what he has started, then Portugal will finally be above to move on. Something the world outside Ronaldo’s reach realised must happen some time ago.