Cristiano Ronaldo Retires from Portugal! Rio Ferdinand's Emotional Message to CR7.

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0:35Yes, guys, this is Rio Reacts. I've had to stop what I'm doing. I was just having a meeting. I was just in the middle of a meeting there. It's gone. We're out here now. I've just set all the cameras up, ready to rock and roll. Cristiano Ronaldo has retired from international football for Portugal. This is huge breaking news right now, especially after what's gone on in the last couple of months. It's been crazy. He's now retired, guys. He's finished. He's quit international football. You'll never see him wearing a Portugal shirt ever again. And we're going to react to that right now. We're going to go through his early days at United and Portugal, how Ronaldo evolved, Euro 2016, Portugal's greatest ever moment, his international career by the numbers, his commercial impact on Portugal, and also the legacy that he's now leaving behind now as you're tired from international football.

1:20Stay with us. Let's go.

1:24Yes, guys, this is Rio Reacts. And this is a big moment, man. Cristiano Ronaldo has retired from international football for Portugal. Wow. The end of an era. One of the biggest, if not the biggest names in the game over the past couple of decades, man. Since he started football, he's been like a whirlwind of goals, of moments, of record-breaking moments. It's just ridiculous what he's done. and I've got to say like that came out of the blue man I've got to be honest I was only talking to him the other day messaging back and forth and it didn't come up in conversation it's just like wow an unbelievable video showing his passion for his country

2:15yeah man I just it was it's just kind of sad that it kind of ended up going at the way it did quite sour maybe not right now but a couple of weeks ago a month ago or so it's quite a sour moment man for what he'd done for the country and I said this at the time Cristiano Ronaldo before him there was a golden generation of like Rui Costa Luis Figo who were great players among others who were great players Eusebio before that but no one had took Portugal to a place where Cristiano's taken it he's put the country on the map. People in countries far and wide, places that Portugal wasn't even a word in their vocabulary now, have it rubber stamped exactly.

3:01They know where it is, they know what it represents and what it represents is Cristiano Ronaldo or Cristiano Ronaldo represents Portugal and he's brought it to the forefront of so many people's minds that it would never have been if it wasn't for Cristiano Ronaldo putting on a pair of football boots and kicking the ball into a goal. It's crazy what football can do, eh? But to play alongside someone and see and know them and then to see them retire at this point, I know he must be hurting. I think there would have been tears. He would have been emotional. It would have been a conversation with his mum, I'm sure, and his family and the people around him at the moment.

3:39And it wouldn't have been an easy decision. And I'm sure for various reasons, I think that the Federation would have wanted him to continue. notably because financially they'll do much better when he's there. The numbers don't lie in that sense. But Cristiano Ronaldo, to be walking away from international football, was the record goal scorer in history at an international level. I think he's got 140-something. Messi's got 120-something. It's just a phenomenal output over such a long period of time. I think it's 23 years he was an international player. Absolutely mind-boggling what he's done. And I mean, I have to rewind and go back to when I first ever saw him.

4:21I didn't know anything about him. And then we played against Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season tour for Man United. And I saw him and it was like, who's this kid, man? Who's this guy? Doing step overs, got curly bits of hair, like skinny kid. But you saw immediately talent, huge talent, huge, huge, huge potential. sure um and that's why even when i hear people say now like oh cristiano ronaldo's all hard work and he says yeah he's all hard work but he's talent he was he was a wonder kid as a young boy which suggests he had real talent um and you look at even when he started did no one was surprised that he went on to win so many ballon doors and he won so many titles and broke so many records because when you see him initially as a baby, he wasn't an out-on-out goal scorer.

5:14He was an entertainer. But then he goes into only his second international goal was against Holland in the European Championship 2004 semifinal. It told you that the big occasions are going to turn up and Cristiano Ronaldo will turn up. He's done that from the beginning of his career. And at that age as a young kid, he was fearless. he'd go into anyone's away ground as a young kid, Highbury, Anfield, wherever it was, even away in Europe, and demand the ball, get kicks from pillar to post, get up, dust himself down, never moan about it, carry on and playing, and just want to get better. He was a great example to any young kid who's deemed a wonder kid, but he didn't want any shortcuts, didn't want any treatment of being different to anybody else, wanting to be part of the team, wanting to be treated the same as everybody else and was going to outwork everybody to get where he wanted to get to.

6:12And from the moment he came to Man United, he put pressure on himself. Give me the number seven shirt. And at times, he won't mind me saying this, he was looking down his nose at people like Beckham and going, these guys who went before me, they're not going to be able to live with me. In his head, that's how he was thinking. That's the mindset he had from a young kid, man. And I think we all knew he was going to be a big player? Did we know he was going to be a superstar like this, like he is now? I don't think anybody could have dreamed that or imagined that. Not to the extent that he is now the most followed person on earth, on social media.

6:47Anything he does turns to gold. Did we know he would break all of these records? I don't think we could have ever sat there and said that. But we knew he had huge potential. And the reason that is because when he came to May United, he was an entertainer. He wanted to step over. He wanted to entertain the crowd. That's why all the young kids loved him. Can't wait to get to match of the day or to watch the highlights of the games at May United at that time because you knew Cristiano Ronaldo was going to do something with his hot stepper feet, right? Like he's on a dance floor. You weren't thinking about goals with him.

7:21You weren't thinking what he later became. He became one of the greatest goal scorers we've ever seen and we're ever likely to see. That wasn't Cristiano Ronaldo in the first part of his career. He was the entertainer. but his game changed as he got older. And by the time he left Manchester United, it evolved into somebody who wanted to win games and define games and end matches by being the man who scored the goals. So I saw that, how he changed his mindset and his approach to training, his approach to games, as give me the ball, the last ball before the goal, guys, because I will deliver for you, because I'm cold as ice in those situations.

7:58And that's it, from a skillful winger, entertainer, to a killer marksman, to a killer goal scorer. But again, another thing that stood out in them times that enabled him to be who he was and to continue and have the longevity was the work ethic as a young kid. I'm screaming about work ethic now with a team at the moment, but he's incredible work ethic. He's disciplined. He's consistency every day. And the winning mentality, all that added together, made for someone who was going to play football at the highest level for as long as Cristiano did and succeed in the ways that he did countless times over and over again.

8:32There's no coincidence that he achieved what he did at the level that he did. It's not just about ability. Yes, he had to have great ability, but you had to have all those other elements I just mentioned to be able to get there and stay there and keep chipping away at it and keep reaching for something else. That obsessive nature was just, he had an insatiable desire. It was crazy. And that's why he's revered and that's why he's loved and that's why he's respected in that sense. and he wasn't even a leader as a kid. Not many are natural leaders. He wasn't a natural leader as a kid. He grew into being a leader.

9:06The responsibility of being the man that you look to in the moments when you need something in a game, he loved that and he grew into that and became the captain of his clubs, captain of his national team. And you look at Cristiano Ronaldo now and you can't imagine him without the armband because that's just the way that he moves. but yeah that that ability to get up every day and go at it 100 miles an hour and go at it diligently and every detail has to be looked after I haven't seen anybody work to that level in football that precise preciseness that he had with it all people worked hard don't get me wrong people went at it and done a lot of stuff but how precise he was how much he invested in himself was crazy.

9:56And you fast forward to 2016 in a Portugal shirt, probably it's Portugal's greatest ever moment. The greatest ever moment for Portugal led a fairly unfancied Portugal team to their first major international trophy. And knowing what Portugal means to him, I remember when I went and done an interview with him at his house and he was talking and we were talking about investing and stuff like that. and he has a real passion for investing in big companies or companies in Portugal. You see all the big international companies that he's involved in, but he actually has a passion and he's conscious of investing in his homeland and how much that means to him.

10:36And some of the biggest companies in Portugal, Cristiano has his fingerprints on because that's how much his country, it's not just football, it means to him. It means a hell of a lot to him. He's patriotic, he got injured in the final. But again, even then he became a leader on the sidelines and some people were laughing and going, And what's he doing? What's he up to? Blah, blah, blah. I get all that. But at the same time, you can see what it means to all their players. But him on the sideline, he's thinking this is my moment to win something of real value for my country. We've never done this before.

11:08And they end up going to do it. They beat France 1-0 in extra time. And you have to say that tournament, him lifting that trophy was the moment, the greatest achievement for Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo. because it was a monumental effort, monumental moment. You saw the celebrations in their homeland when they went back, their people were parading the streets. Crazy. And then if you want to look at numbers with Portugal, 234 caps, man. Oh, guys, guys, can we just put that into context? Some people don't play that many Sunday league games, let alone international games for Portugal at the professional level.

11:48Some people don't play that in a professional career because they get cut short by injuries. There's so many things that can go wrong. A lack of form, you're out of the team, you don't start games. 234 caps for East Country, Portugal. That is alongside 146 goals, guys, and 37 assists. It's like we don't see these numbers ever. You've never seen this. This is the most we've ever seen at international level. It is ridiculous. That looks like a career's worth at club level for some people. That's mad. 183 gold contributions, guys.

12:28Hey, we're Nick and Jack, hosts of The Best One Yet. Behind every episode, there's research, email, spreadsheets, and our shared Google Doc, the Headline Hammer. With Google Workspace with Gemini, Google's AI is built right into the premium versions of tools we already use, like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets. No new tools or extra logins, just personalized AI for the way we work. That means less time on the work around the work and more time finding the stories worth talking about. Get AI tools for work. Upgrade to Google Workspace with Gemini at goo.gle slash workspace with Gemini. That's goo.gle slash workspace with Gemini.

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13:49There's stats you can go on for today. Ten international hat-tricks, like the Euro 2016 win, the Nations League win twice, 2019 and 2025. It's stupid numbers. Stupid. The all-time international men's top goal scorer, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. And you know what? I'm going to have to give a special shout-out to Messi. is, well, I know this is a Ronaldo piece, but I think Messi, without Messi, does Cristiano Ronaldo go on to do what he does? Because I'm telling you, they both score at a weekend. They score for their countries and they turn on the TV or they put on their phones and they're looking to see what the other one's done.

14:28They needed to push each other. They needed each other. One without the other does not do the numbers that they've done. I genuinely believe that. So, I think Ali Dahi deserves a special mention as well. 108 appearances now he's behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but he's record stood up there for a long time and you know what I think I said this at the top of the Rio reacts I said like the federation would have probably wanted Cristiano to stay just from a monetary situation a monetary standpoint because Ronaldo has become a bigger commercial proposition than the Portugal national team and that's a fact like it or not he has and I think his retirement will have a huge commercial impact on the Portuguese National Federation.

15:14And you look at it, I mean, his posts, a fraction of the posts that he'd done generated so much more. I think he, at the World Cup in 2026, $107 million in audience value was generated, all right, on social media, on Cristiano Ronaldo's social media, compared to 88 million from Portugal's official social media accounts across all platforms. That was analysed during the World Cup or post the World Cup. So one person, Cristiano Ronaldo, is outdoing with a fractionary amount of posts, outdoing the revenue of a national federation. It's crazy. So that's what he means. But I think you have to look at his statement as well that he read and that he filmed.

16:00I thought it was a great piece of work. he's spoken about the pride that he takes in seeing made in Portugal around the world. Again, that goes back to the investments that he's made. And I go back to the beginning as well, how he's put Portugal on the map well beyond football. He's a superstar, a global superstar, a global icon.

16:25And I'd go as far as to say, I don't think Portugal would ever, ever replace his commercial appeal. or his global reach. I think it will continue to help him in many ways in that respect, just by being from Portugal. But as a country, I don't think it goes unnoticed by the Portuguese people how much he's done for them, how much he's put the country on the map, how much pride he's taken in representing that badge. But I think with the way that he spoke on his announcement, I think he understands and appreciates the support he's had from all of those fans in Portugal and around the world. but most importantly, the Portuguese fans when he's won that Portugal shirt.

17:04So his impact on Portuguese football and world football can never, ever be underestimated. He's brought joy to so many people's households and individuals around the world. He's brightened up days when people have been low, I'm sure. He's created moments that will live long in their memory for many people. Different moments. The game against Sweden where he smashed a hat-trick to take them to a tournament. Things like that, just as a country. I'm not even Portuguese, but that was like, whoa, that was like major stuff. But as a Portuguese, I'll never forget stuff like that. And I think one of the other great things that he's done is he's changed the expectation of professionalism.

17:41He set a new standard for professionalism, for fitness, for longevity, for wellness, for looking at those details, for going the extra yard to try and get everything out of yourself, to prolong your career, to have the best chance to produce your best football. and I think what I remember most about him for Portugal will be the expectations that he can bring to a nation, the hope that he could bring to one country that before that didn't really consider themselves a big country who were going to get and be one of the favourites at tournaments and with Cristiano Ronaldo, I think that he gave every single Portuguese more hope than they'd ever had going into a tournament.

18:26and for what he's done, you have to rank him as the best Portuguese player ever. He's one of the greatest players to ever pull on a pair of football boots, 100%. Now, where you put him, one, two, three, wherever you're going to put him, doesn't matter to me. I think he goes down, he's at the top table alongside the greatest that's ever played football. And if you were saying to Cristiano Ronaldo when he started out as a kid, if you could sit on the table of the best players, best five players that ever played the game at the end of your career, would you take that? of course he would have took it and he's there and he's achieved that and who can say he'd have done that so Cristiano from an ex-teammate someone I consider a friend I think I have to say man since that young little ugly skinny teenager that I saw come through the doors at Carrington at Manchester United who dazzled us who mesmerised us in training always willing to have laugh and mess around in training, laugh at himself but came and worked and worked as hard if not harder than anybody else at the training ground and when the lights were off always working always looking for that extra one percent to become better.

19:42To the kid who left us we didn't want you to go, never forget that I tried to talk you out of it so many times but who left us and went on to do unimaginable things and set the world alight and become the greatest, one of the greatest players to play the game, win countless Ballon d 'Ors and Champions Leagues. Congratulations on a great international career. Well done.

20:27We'll be right back.

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