Okocha Backs Ronaldo Amid World Cup Criticism

Following Portugal’s loss to Morocco, Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha asserts that Cristiano Ronaldo gave it all for Portugal but that he was never destined to take home the World Cup.

The 37-year-old Ronaldo replaced Ruben Neves in the 51st minute of what is probably his final World Cup match for the Selecao, but he was unable to stop a 1-0 quarterfinal loss to the Atlas Lions at Al Thumama Stadium.

Youssef En-Nesyri of Sevilla scored the decisive goal to advance the North Africans to the round of 16, where they will face France, who defeated England 2-1 in the other matchup.

The former Manchester United forward, 49, who played 73 times and scored 14 goals for the Super Eagles between 1993 and 2006, thinks the World Cup title was not supposed to be added to his illustrious career.

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According to him, “Oh yes! We’ve seen it in this tournament. A lot of stars have cried because they knew this could be their last chance of playing in the World Cup,” Okocha told SuperSport TV as quoted by Nigeria Soccernet.

“We saw Luis [Suarez] and now Ronaldo. What a fantastic career he has had. He’s an icon but I mean, some things are not meant to be. I don’t think that it was meant for him to win the World Cup because they had everything, but credit to Morocco.”

After being benched once more by manager Fernando Santos, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was observed crying as he left the field.

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Ronaldo sat on the sidelines before replacing Joao Felix in the 74th minute of the Round of 16 matchup between Portugal and Switzerland, which the Selecao won 6-1.

He already parted ways amicably with Premier League team Manchester United, therefore he will need to find a new club to restart his career.

According to reports, he will sign a two-and-a-half-year contract worth 200 million euros a season with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.