Furious and very confident. That’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s state of mind ahead of Tuesday night’s play-off final between Portugal and North Macedonia. In a press conference, CR7 mentioned the fact that it could be his last World Cup. And his answer is worth the detour: “I notice that many of you are starting to ask me the same question. The one who will decide my future is me and no one else. If I want to play I will play, if I don’t want to, I won’t play. I’m in charge, period! »
The Portuguese was present to talk about a meeting which is of crucial importance. If successful, Portugal will play their sixth consecutive World Cup. If eliminated, it will be a huge disappointment, likely ending the cycle of Fernando Santos and the 2016 European champions.
The Manchester United player was very confident regarding his country’s qualification on Tuesday evening: “From my point of view, it will be a very difficult match. Macedonia are a very organized team. But if Portugal are at their best level, they beat any other team in the world”. To get there, Portugal eliminated Turkey last Thursday (3-1), and can count this time on the return of Pepe, recovered from his Covid-19 infection. As for Macedonia, after beating Germany in the qualifying rounds and eliminating Italy (1-0), it will be necessary to chain a third exploit to be present at the World Cup.