'Entitlement!' - Ronaldo's SHOCKING outburst | Football Weekly
Ronaldo's entitlement rant and Messi's farewell spark double-standard debate
Football Weekly unpacks Cristiano Ronaldo's long Instagram statement after being left out against Norway, and whether he should accept a reduced role. The panel compares it with Lionel Messi's emotional Argentina farewell and discusses ego and double standards around superstar send-offs.
- The Portuguese Football Federation should assess and punish me and not reduce the punishment; a coach who warms up a player of Pelé or Maradona stature and leaves him out has made a mistake — He says he has apologised, never demanded playing time and respected the coach's decisions, but claims Jorge Jesus broke his word to him
- The statement reads like one of Donald Trump's more unhinged social-media rants and is full of entitlement — It runs to 1,740 words and veers between apologetic, aggressive and self-pitying, with the hallmarks of a narcissist
- Ronaldo will not admit he is 41 and no longer as good as he was, and the coach probably had good reason to go back on the promise — He was promised 30 minutes against Norway but did not get on, while Gonçalo Ramos, who would likely have made way, scored the winner in the 79th minute
- Ronaldo has no leg to stand on over not playing because game states change, the team needed to win, and the substitute scored — A 30-minute promise cannot be honoured mechanically; Gonçalo Ramos scored the winner in the 79th minute, so the coach's call worked
- Jorge Jesus should not have promised Ronaldo minutes, but Ronaldo also has to accept fewer minutes — Game states change and coaches must adjust to win; respect has to work both ways, and it is unclear whether Ronaldo can accept a reduced role
- Ronaldo and Messi both have massive egos; the difference is Ronaldo puts his on social media while Messi does not — People wrongly think Messi has no ego, but he also lives in a world where people fawn over him; Ronaldo is simply more public about it
- Ronaldo has confused a football career with that of a Hollywood star and refuses to admit others have overtaken him and he should become a supporting actor — The rant resembles Hollywood stars talking about saving Hollywood; he cannot see he is not as good as he was in 2010 and still imagines he can live forever like billionaires
- I got Jorge Jesus wrong: I thought he would simply give Ronaldo what he wants, but he wants what is best for the team — He came from Al Nassr, where he had been with Ronaldo, so I expected him to indulge Ronaldo; instead he left him out, showing he has principles
- Messi's farewell in Argentina was the ideal way to go out — Two assists, a penalty, pyro, the number 10 shirt, family and fans in tears; the only odd thing was that he was not substituted for a solo send-off
- Calling Messi's farewell over the top is a double standard; if Ronaldo did the same he would be called a narcissist, but Messi, Kane and other top stars also have massive egos — They are all fawned over and live in a different world; Kane will not be happy when he gets only bits of minutes either
Cristiano Ronaldo's war of words over his international career erupted in spectacular fashion on the Portugal star's Instagram, meanwhile Lionel Messi bid farewell to his glittering international career in some style. Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Lucy Ward and John Brewin mull over what it means to age gracefully. Watch the full podcast episode ► https://youtu.be/lJp195-2org Subscribe to Guardian Football ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianfootball?subconfirmation=1 We want your feedback! If you had any thoughts on our coverage of the World Cup, please let us know here ► www.theguardian.com/YTWorldCupSurvey The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://support.theguardian.com/ Guardian Football Weekly: https://www.tiktok.com/@guardianfootballweekly https://www.instagram.com/guardianfootballweekly/ Website ► https://www.theguardian.com Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/theguardian Bluesky ► https://bsky.app/profile/sport.theguardian.com Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/guardiansport/ The Guardian on YouTube: The Guardian ► https://www.youtube.com/@theGuardian Football Weekly podcast ► https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast Guardian News ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiannews Guardian Australia ► https://www.youtube.com/@GuardianAustralia Guardian Sport ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiansport
Transcript
possibly didn't get on in the Norway game because Jorge Jesus thought he wouldn't be able to move about the pitch adequately with Piers Morgan buried up his colon. >> [laughter] >> Is it fair asking someone of the stature of Pele or Maradona to warm up without playing? Uh so in a in a very long statement, if you haven't seen it, Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his silence, thank goodness. Just the 11 slides of text on Instagram. Please go and read it all. He says he's not retiring from inter- Well, don't retire from international football, but deserves to be punished for walking out on Portugal, uh even though the head coach Jorge Jesus broke his word to me, he says. Uh the Portuguese Football Federation must assess the consequence of my actions and punish me for them. I believe the punishment should not be reduced. I've already apologized, but I know that actions have consequences. He said an eight-point document was prepared saying he'd never demanded playing time, had respected Jesus' decisions, and that the coach asking someone of the stature of Pele or Maradona to warm up deserves to be punished for walking out on Portugal, even though the head coach Jorge Jesus broke his word to me, he says. Uh the Portuguese Football Federation must assess the consequence of my actions and punish me for them. I believe the punishment should not be reduced. I've already apologized, but I know that actions have consequences. He said an eight-point document was prepared saying he'd never demanded playing time, had respected Jesus' decisions, and that the coach asking someone of the stature of Pele or Maradona to warm up without bringing him on had been a mistake. This is it, point six of the eight points. I made a mistake. This is Jesus should be saying this. 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. And then point seven, I want Cristiano in the national team. In fact, I don't want him a little, I want him a lot. And uh part part of point eight, he is the player who signs the most autographs, takes the most selfies, shows the most affection to the fans. Let's not invent problems where they don't exist. Um and Barry, thanks. That's all right. Well, I I think his statement was 1,740 words in length. And if you took out all the punctuation and had it all in block capitals, it would be like reading one of Donald Trump's more unhinged rants on social media, I think. Um I saw somewhere some uh someone comparing it to Rachel's letter to Ross on Friends, the famous letter. Which made me chuckle. Um if it was anyone else, you'd be agog at the entitlement on display in this statement, but because it's from Cristiano Ronaldo, it's not that much of a surprise. I guess he probably does deserve a send-off for his uh sterling work for Portugal over the years, and he possibly didn't get on in the Norway game because Jorge Jesus thought he wouldn't be able to move about the pitch adequately with Piers Morgan buried up his colon. That [laughter] would uh limit anyone's mobility, one imagines. Um but it I mean, it's it's an extraordinary statement, and it veers from apologetic to aggressive to to uh self-pitying to back to apologetic again, and it has all the hallmarks of being written by someone who's a total narcissist, and I suppose Cristiano Ronaldo is a total narcissist, but he just doesn't seem to realize that he's 41, and he's not able to play football as well as he used to anymore, and uh if a coach just, you know, if a coach promises you time on the pitch, and then reneges, he probably has a good reason for for doing so. Um he promised Ronaldo 30 minutes against Norway. He didn't send him on. If he had gone on, he probably would have replaced Gonçalo Ramos. He [snorts] didn't get on. Who scored the winner in the 79th minute? Gonçalo Ramos. Um so I I just find it hilarious. >> Do you know what? That Listen, like I I clogger amateur level football. Uh you know, like if a gaffer and you're let's say you're you know, you're driving to Kent or like out somewhere miles away and they say, "Look, I'll give you 30 or I'll give you 45." If they don't do it, I think that is Because you know, that is But you know, you've said that. But this level, you know, he needs to win in Norway. Like it is mad. It doesn't matter who you are. Like it doesn't matter the game the game state changes, right? >> Yes. >> And and Barry is right. He isn't as good as he was. It was probably not right to bring on The guy won the game. So, he has not a leg to stand on on that bit, which is one of the most ridiculous bit. >> I mean, that statement made sense in Ronaldo's head when he wrote it, I'm sure. And that is probably exactly what happened, I would suspect. Because like Barry said, there was bits where he, you know, he he sort of admitted wrongdoing. But if he's had a conversation with the coach, and to be honest, to the the time in his career that he is is I mean, the problem with um was it Roberto Martínez just did not deal with him properly. Didn't manage him properly. So, that didn't help. But if if the manager has said that he's going to play He shouldn't have said that. Cuz like you say, game state changes. They need to win it, blah blah blah. He shouldn't have said that to him. So, therefore you know, I can see I can actually see both sides of it. Because you've got to give a little bit of respect to him, but he has the bit I mean, him and Messi have massive egos. The difference is that um he puts it out on sort of social media and Messi doesn't. I think that's the people think that Messi hasn't got an ego. He's got massive massive ego. But Ronaldo, I think that the the manager shouldn't have said that to him. Um and I would suspect that every single point did happen in in but you know I think it's whether he can accept the role of of not having as many minutes. I'm not sure. I think it's going to all end in tears, isn't it? I think it's it's clear to see. >> It'd be interesting John, you know, we talked about Harry Kane and how irreplaceable he is in that position. Sort of what Harry Kane would do in a you know, in a situation where he slows down a bit. You can see him saying I'll be at the World Cup. If he doesn't go and play NFL, you know, I'll just I could be at the World Cup and come on for 20 minutes. You could see Kane as we said but kind of ego-free just doing it for the team. It is I mean it's just interesting that humans are different, I guess and Ronaldo is a very different human. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean it you know, they always say don't they that that you know, that the last to know when it's gone are the boxers, aren't they and stuff like that and and the problem is Ronaldo has confused a football career with that of a Hollywood star. And that rant uh you know, that possibly AI assisted reminded of of some of the stuff you read about people that are major Hollywood stars that you know, talk about saving Hollywood and all this type of thing and um the way that he is and and and like Hollywood stars that refuse or film stars that refuse to to to admit that other people are ahead of them in the game and that that time is gone and you know, you might have to become a character actor rather than a a lead actor or something like that. But Ronaldo thinks for whatever reason that he and and you know, he's part of that billionaire class uh where there are billionaires that think they can live forever and Ronaldo is doing this on a football field when we know we can say to the billionaires, mate, it's likely you're not going to live forever. And Ronaldo on the field, the rest of the world can see, mate, you're not as good as you were back in 2010 or whatever it might be. But he can't see it. And the the conversation he's had there with George Jesus. Now, I must admit, I got George Jesus absolutely wrong because when he came in from Al Nassr, where he'd been with Ronaldo, I just thought, oh god, he's going to be another one to just give Ronaldo what he wants. Well, it turns out he's got a lot more to him. And actually, strangely for a football manager, he wants the best for his team. I mean, you know what? This will never catch on, especially not with Ronaldo around. And so you have this situation where yeah, you're in the Piers Morgan sphere, where, you know, all reality is suspended because these people are nice people. They're but they're they're rich, they're successful. And Ronaldo is trying to debunk actual human life by not by not by refusing to admit that he is that you get old, things change. You have to try and find something else to do. But he's not at that stage yet. He's only 41, bless him. >> Yeah. >> But but the beauty of football is that is that reputation counts for nothing, right? Once the game starts, it doesn't >> 100%. Yeah. does it. You just have to, you know, it's whoever's better. And meanwhile, Barry, Lionel Messi did have a a more sort of picture-perfect send-off in Argentina, two assists and a penalty against Benin, a drone image of his face in the sky, shortly after a drone image of an insurance company, part of the celebrations, got some booze, tears everywhere, which is which is how you should do it, really. >> Yeah, it it was nice. I watched highlights of it, lots of pyro, presentations, the big number 10 shirt in the middle of the Boca pitch of the Monumental pitch. Um, it looked for a while like it wasn't going to be his night because he had a couple of near misses trying to slide the ball home or tap-ins. And then he went close from a really good free kick that was saved by the Benin keeper, Marcel Dandjinou. You're kind of going, Marcel, you know, read the room. It's No No one's come here to watch you save free kicks. But uh he got his goal in the end, a penalty after assisting two two really good goals, actually. Nicolás Nicolás Otamendi scored two beauties for Argentina to put them two nil up. And his family was there. There were tears in the stands. The crowd were you know, loved it. And that that's how to go out. The only thing I found slightly odd is that he wasn't subbed off. He played the full 90. And I presumed the board would go up at some point and he'd have his tearful exit, you know, on his own and the guard of honor and all that, but that didn't happen. Uh for whatever reason, but um yeah, it looked like a lovely evening in in Buenos Aires. >> And maybe he would have flounced out, left the camp. This male Messi farewell show, and as it seems sponsored by an insurance company, um Benin, the team were flown in uh uh and uh supposedly it was a very rocky flight. Uh and they were not in the most luxurious They're in cattle class as it's as it's sometimes done in the industry. Uh and uh they got to their hotel uh and some of them some one of the floors had no hot water. So, somewhere a lot of money was flowing in for this, but it didn't flow to the special guest for the evening. Uh Someone was Someone was telling me that uh the Argentinian uh football association uh and like to stage these matches, and it doesn't really and because some teams like to be paid to play in these matches, whereas uh they played Burkina Faso at the weekend. I don't know if you saw the story where Burkina Faso's players their [clears throat] flight from Morocco was canceled, so quite a lot of the players refused to travel because they would have arrived a few hours before the game. They got done 7-0. This time not in front of an audience of children. It appears that Argentina have taken the cheap option of opponents because actually the Argentinian public only want to watch Argentina. They're not bothered who it might be. So, they could have got I don't know, they could have got Macclesfield Town over there to play them or or whoever. It just didn't matter. This was the Messi show. >> playing in the FA Cup, John, last night. >> They were playing Scarborough, yes, yes. Yes. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, but how are Portugal going to do this when they have their send-off? They Maybe they should get Ben in over. I mean, this is it. I mean We need a show. It's It was the Messi show, wasn't it? Interesting when he scored the penalty. >> I thought he might miss it to you know to >> to cuz to cuz he's not very good at penalties, is he? It's It's the great weakness in his career. Messi is actually rubbish cuz he can't save a penalty. >> It was a bit It was a bit over the top. It was completely over the top. I'm going to say it cuz everybody's fawning all over it, but it it If that happened to Ronaldo, like you said, John, but when that happens to Ronaldo, everybody will say, "Completely over the top. That is He's such a narcissist." They They all are narcissists. It's just that we don't know the way that Messi will be. There's no way on earth does Messi not live in a completely different world to everybody else because of how people fawn all over him. Same as Ronaldo. Same as all the Same as Kane. Kane won't be happy when he gets bits of minutes. He You know, and he's a lovely human being, I'm sure. But yeah, it's the tears of Enzo Enzo Fernandez actually made me laugh. It's like probably the only thing he's cried. There's lots of things going on in his private life. Probably the only thing he's cried about in the last however however long. Um but I did I did appreciate Messi's glow up though. His sort of his his beard the same color as his hair and stuff. I I thought that was that was particularly good. >> And just as a side note, if Macclesfield had gone to play that game, they wouldn't be the first team from that neck of the woods to sack off the FA Cup and go and play in South America, would they? >> That's very true. >> No, that's true. Good good win for Macclesfield. They won 2-1 at Scarborough. I mean he has had a glow up Messi, but there are no rumors that he's a clone of himself like the Vinicius Jr. >> Gosh, yeah. >> doing the rounds at the moment. >> Has he had Has he had a new Has he had a Has he had a new chin? What I mean I'm just so I mean I even though I am of course frowned upon a lot, I still remain grounded, Lucy, but I but what's he what's >> I think he's had something to do >> Yeah, something to do with his his his chin. He had it straight after the World Cup, but then I keep seeing photos which are obviously AI of saying that this this um impostor does not have the the same tattoos on his legs as as Vinicius Jr. And I can't think for a minute that that is but yeah, all the same six-pack or whatever it might be. But he does look very different to be [laughter] fair. >> Imagine what it would have cost for Jimmy Hill to have a one of those done. Uh anyway.