Porto (AP) – Cristiano Ronaldo knew that this question was coming. She annoyed him anyway. In shorts and flip-flops, the 37-year-old listened patiently at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto when his footballing future was once again at stake.
A reporter wanted to know whether the upcoming World Cup in Qatar would be his last. Ronaldo looked at him so seriously, as if he had just done something outrageous. “Only I will decide my future, nobody else. If I want to keep playing, I’ll keep playing. If not, then not,” he said on Monday. “I’m the boss. Period.”
First, the aging megastar has to qualify for the World Cup. He is doing the same as his colleagues Zlatan Ibrahimovic (40) and Robert Lewandowski (33), who are also highly decorated. At an age when others are already working as coaches or TV pundits, all three still impress with more or less great achievements and even greater fitness. And all three are playing this Tuesday (8.45 p.m. / DAZN) for one of the last tickets for the World Cup in Qatar. What else unites them: for years they have been repealing the unofficial rule that soccer careers hit the home stretch in their early 30s.
Ibrahimovic: “Freeze the time”
“I’m freezing the time,” Ibrahimovic wrote on Twitter for a photo that shows him and his Swedish teammates warming up. Because he and his colleagues are moving, almost everything in the picture is blurred, only Ibrahimovic’s head is clearly visible. In the playoff final, the AC Milan striker will play against Poland and Lewandowski for a chance at what will probably be his last World Cup. At the same time, the Portuguese and Ronaldo will face Italy’s conquerors North Macedonia. At least one of the three old stars will miss the winter tournament in Qatar. Ronaldo made it clear on Monday in Porto that he won’t be.
“I’m very confident,” said the Manchester United forward. Ronaldo will be playing his 186th international match against the North Macedonians, and World Cup participation in Qatar would be his fifth. But what still drives you at this age? Players like Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic or Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski have won almost everything and seen even more during their long careers.
“We wake up, we prepare, we train, we eat and we sleep. The next day it’s exactly the same. You don’t do anything else for 20 years and that’s where we get our adrenaline,” Ibrahimovic said in a recent UEFA Interview. “If you suddenly stop now, you won’t get any more adrenaline rush.” Perhaps this is actually the simple answer to a question that doesn’t seem so easy at first glance.
Ibrahimovic is now 40 years old. He became known for incredible goals, tricks and his big mouth. Meanwhile, also because he doesn’t want to stop for a long time. The Swede leaves his future open regardless of the tournament in Qatar. Just like Ronaldo and Lewandowski.