Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Cristiano Ronaldo: 2022 World Cup could be my last for Portugal

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo says that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is likely to be his last international tournament.

Ronaldo's long term future at Real Madrid has been brought into question in recent days, after he turned 31 last Friday, and then put in a poor performance in Madrid's narrow 2-1 La Liga win at Granada on Sunday evening.

The player himself fuelled talk of a move on Monday when picking up the 2014-15 Pichichi top scorer award, telling Marca that he planned to see out the remaining two years on his Madrid contract before deciding what to do.

Ronaldo also spoke to beIN Sports at the ceremony and was asked for his views on the Qatar 2022 tournament.

"Very good, for me," Ronaldo said. "I expect Qatar could be my final World Cup. I often go on holidays there, to Qatar as well as Dubai. I am happy because for sure it will be last international tournament."

Ronaldo's performance at Granada, when he was rarely involved in the play and did not have one shot on target, has seen further analysis of his statistics for the current season.

A report in AS claimed the reason for his below par showing at the Estadio Los Carmenes was that he was suffering from a stomach problem, and he was only able to last the 90 minutes after receiving treatment both before and during the game.

Elsewhere in AS, it was pointed out that for the first time since arriving from Manchester United in 2009, he has scored in less than half his games so far this term.

Ronaldo has scored 30 goals in all competitions so far, but often against weaker opposition in La Liga or the Champions League, while he has been held scoreless in games against Paris Saint-Germain in Europe and not found the net against any of La Liga's top six.

^ Back to Top ^