Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears and Martinez’s familiar failure: Portugal’s World Cup dream dies in Dallas

Last Updated on 6 July 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo had said before kick-off that he wanted this not to be his last World Cup game. It was. Mikel Merino stepped off the bench and slotted home in the 91st minute at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, sending Spain to the quarter-finals.

It also ended Portugal’s World Cup campaign and with it, in all likelihood, an incredible career. Ronaldo had tears in his eyes as he walked around the pitch post-match, applauding the Portuguese fans. Portugal knocked out Croatia only a few days ago, and now they went out.

It was the ending none of them wanted, and exactly the kind that has become horribly familiar under this manager.

Mikel Merino’s moment knocks Portugal out for Cristiano Ronaldo’s farewell

A match that on paper promised so much failed to really deliver. Spain controlled possession but created little. Portugal had moments, Nuno Mendes’ deflected shot hit Pedro Porro’s head and cannoned off the crossbar in the first half, the closest either side came for 90 minutes.

Then Ferran Torres, introduced as a second-half substitute, slid a quick ball into the box where fellow sub Merino was completely unmarked, and the Arsenal midfielder fired past Diogo Costa at the near post. One moment of quality from the bench, one goal, one World Cup over.

Portugal had an inferior xG of 0.60 to Spain’s 1.77, the numbers telling the story of a team that never truly threatened. Ronaldo, jeered and cheered in equal measure, was a marginal presence in the central attacking role he now occupies in the twilight of his career.

He had confirmed before kick-off that this would be his last World Cup. “Whatever happens tomorrow, Cristiano will leave with a clear conscience. I’ve given everything in football,” he said. He has. The tournament did not give it back.

Roberto Martinez has done it again: Portugal’s golden generation deserved better

Roberto Martinez won nothing of significance with Belgium’s golden generation. Now he has guided Portugal’s golden generation, arguably even more gifted, to a Round of 16 exit at a World Cup they entered with genuine title credentials. The pattern is not difficult to identify.

A squad containing Joao Neves, Rafael Leao and Bruno Fernandes, players who dominate for Europe’s elite clubs week after week, produced 0.60 xG against Spain. In a knockout game. With a place in the quarter-finals on the line. No wonder, he left after the final whistle.

Portugal have still never won the World Cup, their best finish a third place in 1966 under Eusebio. Sixty years on, with arguably the most technically gifted squad in their history, they fell in the last 16 to a beatable Spain side. The talent was never the problem.

The coaching, the structure and the inability to build a tournament-winning system around players who deserved one: that was the problem. That was Martinez’s problem, and it is Belgium’s story all over again. Ronaldo clapped the fans. He wiped his eyes.

But he eventually disappeared down the tunnel. Somewhere in Funchal, a nation grieved for two things at once.