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Cristiano Ronaldo makes no decision over international future despite Portugal exit

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Rodrigo Coimbra, Josh Donaldson

Published 1 hour ago

Cristiano Ronaldo admitted he was frustrated by Portugal's elimination at the hands of Spain at his final World Cup, but stopped short of announcing his full international retirement.

[p]Ronaldo struggled to make an impact despite playing the full 90 minutes, as his team fell to a late Mikel Merino goal, with questions surrounding his future in the team getting louder at the age of 41.[/p][p]But he insisted that he has not made any decision on whether he will continue to play for Portugal or not.[/p][p][b]Speaking after the game, he said: "I don't make decisions in the heat of the moment, nor do I want to take attention away from what was achieved at the World Cup because of a personal decision."[/b][/p][p]"My assessment is that we could have done better. We were knocked out by a team that will possibly reach the final or get close to it. It was a well-fought match that could have gone either way. I leave with a clear conscience. We gave our best, I gave my best, and when that's the case, there's nothing to regret."[/p][image alt="Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears following his side's loss" id="fe1b3c5f-f425-433b-8fe5-2bc37e7a9263" credit-line="IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters / Jerome Miron" guid="30c1e0af-0acc-485d-9dfe-579bcfcc90e1" original-width="3127" original-height="2268" /][p][b]Roberto Martinez, the Portugal manager, stepped down from his role following the defeat, saying that it made little sense for him to continue following the loss.[/b][/p][p]Speaking about his former boss, Ronaldo said: "He was someone I loved working with. He's a great human being and a great coach. What he did for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/portugal/WvJrjFVN/"]Portugal[/a] was remarkable and deserves praise. He won a title for Portugal, which shows how good you have to be to win a title. I want to thank him and wish him all the best."[/p][p]"It's always sad to leave a major tournament. The team was growing. I think we played a good game, which could have gone either way, but that's football. We have to pick ourselves up and keep moving forward. It's frustrating to go out like this."[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/portugal-WvJrjFVN/spain-bLyo6mco/?mid=tbTsReVa"]Check out the match report with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]

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