Cristiano Ronaldo retired from international football on Thursday morning in a five-minute video posted to social media. He leaves as the men's record international scorer, with 146 goals in 234 games for Portugal. He announced it one day before coach Jorge Jesus names his squad for Nations League games against Denmark and Wales later this month. In late September, Jesus left Ronaldo on the bench in Norway. Ronaldo walked out of the team's camp in Copenhagen three days later and accused Jesus of breaking his word. The federation then banned him for 30 days. He was eligible again for this window. His farewell video doesn't mention Jesus or the federation. He told federation president Pedro Proença he was going. He didn't tell Jesus. Jesus had not commented publicly as of midday Thursday in Lisbon, and he hasn't said anything public about Ronaldo since October 7.

He Left With His Head Up Because the Coach Broke His Word

Ronaldo and his backers say Jesus made staying impossible.

The coach broke his word twice, Ronaldo says. In his October statement, Ronaldo said Jesus asked him at lunch on match day whether he could play 30 minutes against Norway. He warmed up and never came on. "The coach had broken his word to me," he wrote. He said Jesus's press conference three days later broke a second promise and showed a "high and mighty" attitude he had never seen in private.

Working under Jesus had become impossible. CNN Portugal ran a segment Thursday with commentator Luís Vilar under the title "We were all waiting to see if Cristiano Ronaldo would swallow his pride." The channel's summary says Vilar argued that coexisting with Jesus was impossible. His colleague Bruno Batista's segment ran under this headline: "What happened in these three weeks for Ronaldo to change his mind? What happened is that Jorge Jesus is still the national coach."

He wanted to leave on his own terms. A Bola reported Thursday that Ronaldo wanted to leave Portugal as a starter rather than as a substitute. His video skipped the fight entirely. "I leave with my head held high, with pride in the path I took, and with the awareness that I gave everything I had for Portugal," he said. Brazilian great Romário backed him in October. "If that's what Ronaldo said, he's right," he said, adding that he "would do the same."

The Door Was Open and He Would Have Made Friday's List

The federation and the coach's camp say he chose the exit himself.

Jesus was going to pick him on Friday. A Bola reported that Jesus still believed Ronaldo added value to the team and that he would have been among the players named on Friday. Record, citing its own information, reported that Jesus "intended to call up the captain tomorrow." The federation had kept him in the preliminary squad.

Ronaldo stopped answering his coach. Record reported that Ronaldo did not respond to messages Jesus sent in recent weeks. He told only Proença about the video, and the news caught Jesus by surprise. The two men have not spoken since the morning of September 30, the day Ronaldo left camp, according to A Bola.

Jesus says there was no deal with Ronaldo about his role. Jesus said on September 30, the day Ronaldo left camp, that he had told Ronaldo he wasn't going to play. "It won't be Cristiano, or any other player, who changes my ideas as a coach. Never," he said. "I can promise whatever I want." He denied making any agreement with Ronaldo about his role, and after the October 4 Norway game he said the door remained open for a return.

The door stays open and a tribute is coming. "The doors of the Portuguese Football Federation will always be open to Cristiano Ronaldo," Proença wrote Thursday. The federation's statement said it "refuses to let this goodbye pass without a proper tribute" and said it intends to organize one.

He Timed This to Dodge the Bench

Critics say a legend walked out twice and left the public no farewell.

He announced on Thursday so Jesus couldn't name him on Friday. A Bola reported that Ronaldo knew Jesus would call him up, so he announced the day before the list to make sure that couldn't happen. So he gets no farewell match in this window. Portugal's next games are November 14 and 17, and he has already quit.

He walked out twice, and that is on him. Diário de Notícias columnist Gonçalo Santo wrote after the September walkout that "Jorge Jesus did not push Ronaldo out of the national team." Ronaldo chose to leave "through the small door," he wrote. Wayne Rooney, his former Manchester United teammate, said in October that the walkout and the statement were "just wrong in every sense." He added, "To undermine the Portuguese FA, everything about it was just wrong."

The Portuguese public had already sided with the coach. Three times as many people said Jesus was in the right as said Ronaldo was, in a Pitagórica poll for TVI and CNN Portugal taken right after the walkout. Gilberto Madaíl, who ran the federation from 1996 to 2011, said in October that the right move would have been to ask the federation for a farewell in one big final game and end the story.

Where This Lands

Ronaldo says he leaves with his head high. His backers say a coach who broke his word gave him no other way out. The coach's camp says his name would have been on Friday's list and he stopped answering the phone. The critics say he engineered the exit to avoid the bench and cost himself a stadium goodbye. Jesus reads out a Portugal squad on Friday without Ronaldo's name on it. Ronaldo hasn't spoken to the federation's coach since September, and the federation now has to stage a tribute for him anyway.

Sources