Two of the greatest forwards not only this generation, but of all time. The latter in fact, is seen by many as the greatest footballer to ever live, or at the very least, probably second to Lionel Messi. At 37 and 39 years old however, both had very different approaches to what may be their last tournaments for their countries, and here is why the ‘Suarez’ approach was much better.
First, the similarities. As stated, both are all time greats in the sport. Suarez is his country’s all time leading scorer, has won countless titles at club level in different countries, and also ended a drought of international success for his team, as he was the talisman in their Copa America 2011 triumph. For all of Suarez’ stellar achievements, Cristiano has him beat. He isn’t just only his nation’s all time leading scorer, he is international football’s all time leading scorer. His trophy cabinet is one of the biggest all time, and he was not just the catalyst for ending his nation’s trophy drought, but he actually helped win their first ever trophy, as at least pre Suarez, Uruguay had conquered the footballing world. Before Cristiano there was Eusebio and Figo, and yet he was the one who finally, truly put them on the map. In short, both are footballing royalty, this cannot be overstated enough. Alas, Father Time is undefeated and will remain so forever, as both are well past their primes and long removed from playing in the top leagues in Europe. They have both have seemingly started their “pre-retirement tours”, with Suarez testing out life in the US in Major League Soccer (MLS) with Inter Miami, and Cristiano now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr. they are both vastly inferior leagues to the top Europeans ones, filled with comparatively mediocre local talent, and other former stars on their way to retirement. The pair of them know they are still good enough to absolutely light up the league they are playing in, but only one seems to realize this may be his level now. The other, Cristiano, seems to think his time in Europe was cut short rather unfairly, and whether this is true or not, he is definitely now too limited to play at the absolute highest level, something that Suarez seems to have accepted a while ago.
Perhaps their exits from Europe really is to blame for how they are handling the twilight of their careers. Suarez, doubted by his then employers FC Barcelona, moved to La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid, and was their top scorer as they shocked the Spanish League and became champions in 2021, with Suarez proving that he still had it, that he wasn’t quite finished at the highest level and he could then exit on his terms, satisfied. Cristiano on the other hand, was forced out of Manchester United via a public spat with their manager, Erik Ten Hag. Now, who was in the right or wrong is another story, but despite areas of his game clearly waning, Ronaldo still was scoring at a very high rate, and neither he nor several fans felt he was done in Europe. Sure, he was no longer Ballon D’or level quality, but he could probably have done another season in Europe whether in Manchester or a few other clubs and done well, before leaving European football on his terms. Instead, he was unceremoniously booted out, and he chose to sign in Saudi Arabia for the most money and to try and start a max exodus of footballers to the oil rich state. As a result, he seems unable to accept reality, as someone so great must struggle to, when their whole lives they have been in control.
Continuing on with the differences, Luis Suarez has long accepted that the new generation is who must lead Uruguay. They are incredibly talented, boasting players at a host of top European clubs, such as Darwin Nunez at Liverpool, Federico Valverde of Real Madrid, Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo and so on. Despite this, he has long acknowledged that his best role now is to advise and guide the players and mentor them from the bench, rather than play. Of course, when needed he will be happy to sub on a score a goal for his country, but the modern game especially is very physically demanding, and he has long admitted and accepted that he is not nearly as fast or as sharp as he once was. Instead, he has vowed to help mentor his replacement, Nunez, and try to turn him into as lethal a striker as he once was. At this summer’s Copa America, Uruguay are now into the Semi finals with a date with Colombia, and Suarez has been limited to a few minutes off the bench. Uruguay have benefitted as a result. Sure, Nunez is still very raw and even now, Suarez is surely more clinical in front of goal and has a know-how that Nunez still can only dream of. However, Nunez is at least 5 times faster, stronger, and sharper, makes runs and presses to a degree Suarez will never be able to again, and thus as a result, his team are cohesive and function much better as a unit, even if Suarez is still who one would favor when left alone with the goalkeeper. Cristiano on the other hand, is still chasing glory. Now, let me preface this and say I know he values team success. He definitely does. When he missed a potentially tournament ending penalty vs Slovenia in the ongoing Euro 24 round of 16, he broke down in tears knowing he let his team down. He wants Portugal to win first and foremost, but rather than Portugal being 1 and Cristiano being 2, it seems like it is more 1A and 1B. The first signs of this were at the 2022 World Cup. Portugal then, and perhaps even more so now, had an incredibly talented team, I would argue even more so than Uruguay. They have players filling the ranks of Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, PSG, Milan and so on. They are so deep that some players for some of these clubs are lucky to even see the field. Yet, because he is Cristiano, he started the 2022 World Cup. No arguments here, his track record warrants a start. However, Portugal started the World Cup in less than convincing fashion. They ended up topping their group with 6/9 points, but struggled to break down their opponents, while unable to press as a team as well, barely beating Ghana 3-2, while losing their final group game to South Korea. Ronaldo scored in this Ghana game, and became the first player to score in 5 world cups, but this was also his last goal for Portugal at a major tournament up to this point in time (who knows if he will be back for the 2026 World Cup?). On the eve of their round of 16 tie against Switzerland, over 70% of respondents to a poll by ‘A Bola’ in Portugal wanted Cristiano dropped. The rumours this would happen were proven true, and despite his obvious discontent, he started the game on the bench. Portugal ran out 6-1 winners, and put on arguably the performance of the World Cup. Ronaldo may finish like no one the world has ever seen, but he is someone who, despite his tremendous skill, relied on his otherworldly athleticism as well, and this truly helped to set him apart from perhaps all his competitors bar Messi. He was no longer faster than all this markers, he could no longer easily out jump them. In the modern game which focuses on working hard out of possession and pressing as a team, his lack of legs offered no help. The game plan was simply work hard and get near to the box, and then find Cristiano who would do the rest. This hurt the team as they could not win the ball back as often or as easily, but sadly when they did, he was unable to lose his markers as he once could, and thus his only goal came from the penalty spot. This is when Ronaldo should have realized the writing on the wall and assumed the Suarez role. He had nothing more to prove, why not mentor the new generation to even be as half as prolific as he was? He has shown leadership qualities already, such as when he was injured for the Euro 2016 final which they won, where he came off injured but was a player-coach on the sidelines, motivating his team throughout the game to a historic 1-0 victory. His on the pitch contributions were not finished, like Suarez he still merited a place in the squad, but as someone who knew where the goal was, that they could bring on and provide a calming presence to put the ball in the net amidst the ensuing chaos of chasing a game when a goal or more down. Now, he and Portugal lost their 2022 World Cup quarterfinal with him in this very same role, 1-0 (he subbed on in the 51st minute), but that was an inspired Moroccan run to the Semi Finals that very few would have been able to stop. Fast forward to this current Euros, and the trend got worst. Portugal objectively had the deepest squad on paper, perhaps second to France. Their squad was deeper and more complete than the likes of Spain, England and certainly the Dutch, who with France, compose the 4 semi finalists. Unlike in the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo was even unable to score a penalty during a game, seeing his effort saved by Jan Oblak and resulting in the aforementioned tears. Unlike in 2022 as well, his coach did not want to clash publicly with an icon of the sport and of his nation, and refused to bench him, even during their meaningless 2-0 loss to Georgia, where they had already secured top spot in their group before the game started. Surely, Ronaldo earned a rest to be saved for more important games? We may never know, but it is widely speculated that Ronaldo as always wanted to play, but especially now given that scoring here would give him yet another record, that of being the first player to score in 6 different Euro tournaments. Despite his penalty miss, he bravely returned for the shootout vs Slovenia to score the first penalty, as Portugal scraped into the quarterfinals, where they this time lost in a shootout to France.
Now, Uruguay and Portugal’s paths in their tournaments are not perfectly comparable as they are two different tournaments with different opponents and match flows. Both played global powerhouses to penalty shootouts in their respective quarterfinals however, with Uruguay overcoming Brazil. As talented as Uruguay are, they can never truly be the favorites in a confederation with Argentina and Brazil, and were able to execute their game plan to the best of their ability while having their trump card Suarez on the bench. Portugal on the other hand have grossly underperformed, and were left without their own trump card on the bench, as surely the likes of Diogo Jota or Joao Felix would be much more effective starting, rather than coming off the bench and popping up with a goal against tired legs to compensate for his aging ones, as Ronaldo could. In further damage to his team’s chances, Ronaldo was also not substituted and players who were much more dangerous, such as winger Rafael Leao were sacrificed instead. If Cristiano wants to have his fairytale ending, lifting a trophy (especially the elusive World Cup which happens to be next in line and will probably be his last), he should assume the Suarez role, and help mentor his team from the bench. Who knows, with his clutch gene, we could see him come off the bench in a tied game in the World Cup final and head in a winner; similarly crazy things have happened. In other sports, all time greats have reduced their roles to extend their careers while still having success, such as Jason Kidd no longer being a superstar when he finally won an NBA title as a support player for superstar Dirk Nowitski, or more recently, when athletics all time great Allyson Felix ran in the qualifying round for the 4x400m relay in the 2022 World Championships when she was usually a key member of the team in the final in the past. She ran the qualifier to give a teammate a rest for the final which they subsequently won, giving her a perfect sendoff as a world champion, even if she was no longer the star. Ronaldo is more than capable of this, he just has to accept it.