The question that won't go away

It is the story within the story. On the day of the exit, aged 41, Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed there would be no sixth World Cup — but refused to close the national team chapter in the same breath, warning that he did not want to "make decisions in the heat of the moment". The answer was put off, and it runs through the whole cycle that began next.

Jorge Jesus was caught by it at his very unveiling and replied that Ronaldo "will never be a problem". Ten days later he explained how he intends to run a dressing room with hierarchies: the same rules for everyone, different statuses — without naming anyone, and without needing to.

In July, several international outlets reported that the farewell already had a date: 24 September, against Wales, at Alvalade — the new manager's debut match, no less. It is worth repeating what the entry itself records: the report is attributed to a Portuguese agent and has been confirmed by neither the player nor the FPF.

At Alvalade there was no farewell: Ronaldo started, had a goal ruled out by VAR and came off after 67 minutes. Three days later, in Oslo, he spent all 90 minutes on the bench — because, in the national team manager's words, "the game was telling me something else". On the eve of the Denmark match, after a press conference in which Jesus confirmed Gonçalo Ramos in the starting XI and insisted "there's no issue at all", the captain left the camp and promised to tell the truth "in due course".

He told it on 6 October, in a long statement: the national team manager "had broken his word to me". Ronaldo says he warmed up in Oslo waiting for the 30 minutes he had been offered, apologises to the fans and to his teammates, asks the FPF to punish him and insists he wants to come back "to compete and win". Jesus had already answered two days earlier, after the Dragão — "apologise for what? To whom?" — and the Federation opened disciplinary proceedings against the captain, who is suspended pending the outcome. There was no farewell: the question is no longer whether Ronaldo wants to come back, but when, and with whom on the bench.