‘He never left’: Zlatan silences the Ronaldo debate as Portugal win 5-0

Cristiano Ronaldo had just scored twice to become the first player in history to score at six different World Cups, leading Portugal to a 5-0 demolition of Uzbekistan that answered, at least for one night, the loudest doubts of his career.

Ronaldo's 10 World Cup goals surpass Eusebio as Portugal's all-time top scorer at the tournament. (AP Photo)

4 min readJun 24, 2026 12:42 PM IST First published on: Jun 24, 2026 at 12:42 PM IST

When the final whistle blew in Houston on Tuesday, Cristiano Ronaldo walked towards the nearest camera, looked directly into the lens and shouted two words: “I’m back.” When asked about it in the mixed zone afterwards, he explained why. “So people do not forget,” he said.

Ronaldo had just scored twice to become the first player in history to score at six different World Cups, leading Portugal to a 5-0 demolition of Uzbekistan that answered, at least for one night, the loudest doubts of his career.

He opened the scoring inside six minutes, swivelling on the six-yard box to meet a cross from Joao Cancelo and smash the ball past goalkeeper Abduvokhid Nematov. His second came in the 39th minute, receiving a perfectly-placed pass from Bruno Fernandes and finishing low past the keeper. The result moved Portugal to the brink of the knockout rounds after their opening 1-1 draw with DR Congo.

Speaking to Sport TV, he said the previous week had been the hardest of his career. “It was a tough week, a dark one. It started as if I had retired from football. But I held on as I always hold on because I believe in work more than football.”
The reaction from the game’s former players was swift.

On ITV, Roy Keane was unequivocal. “The guy is amazing, amazing player. The stats are fantastic and there’s no surprises. He’s amazing what he has done in the game of football for 20-odd years.” Rio Ferdinand’s response on X was shorter: “Shut up.”

On the Fox Sports panel in the United States, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was dryer still. “I thought he never left,” he said. “I don’t know why he says ‘I’m back’.” Ibrahimovic also praised a moment of unusual selflessness: when Portugal won a free-kick near the area with the crowd chanting Ronaldo’s name, he stood aside and let Nuno Mendes shoot. “When everybody thinks the main man is going to shoot, he lets the free kick go to Nuno Mendes,” Ibrahimovic said. “All the stars have now presented themselves in the World Cup.”

Thierry Henry, who had been Ronaldo’s sharpest critic after the Congo draw, was measured after the final whistle. “A normal day at the office,” he said on Fox Soccer. Owen Hargreaves, a former Manchester United teammate, was more effusive. “Cristiano delivers. When he gets the service, he delivers, everywhere he’s gone, he’s done that. There’s so much firepower.”

Ex-England defender Lee Dixon, on ITV, said: “You can feel the tension has been released, hairs on the back of your neck. Everybody that loves football will be pleased he’s scored this. He’s pumped up now.”

Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro, who faced Ronaldo many times as one of Italy’s finest defenders, offered a different kind of tribute. “As a defender you need to be very smart to be close to him because if you give him one centimetre in the box, you are dead,” he said. “I told him: maybe you can do more years and not retire, enjoy football. Because if you still look like that, why not carry on?”

Ronaldo’s 10 World Cup goals surpass Eusebio as Portugal’s all-time top scorer at the tournament. He is also now the second oldest scorer in World Cup history, behind Cameroon’s Roger Milla. Portugal face Colombia on Saturday. That will be the real test.