The personal ambition of Cristiano Ronaldo to win a FIFA world cup has been publicly supported by a French football legend Frank Leboeuf who hopes that the Portuguese player will win the ultimate award at the 2026 world cup in the United States. According to the former France defender, the world cup might be the best way to end the illustrious international career of Ronaldo.
Ronaldo plays at a high level at the age of 40, and he has ensured that the world cup 2026 will be his final appearance in the biggest stage of the sport of football. The Portugal captain has over 950 career goals, and this is one of the most influential personalities in the history of the sport.
Leboeuf has compared the case of Ronaldo to that of Lionel Messi, who had the 2022 world cup in Qatar to almost surely win the trophy after missing out on it many times. Messi, in his capacity as a national player of Argentina, won the final over France, making Barcelona legend wait long before he received the trophy.
Ronaldo on the other hand is yet to win his maiden world cup title after making five appearances. The 2022 campaign of Portugal was a disappointment as it lost in the quarterfinals against Morocco, which was a significant surprise to most fans and analysts.
Irrespective of that disappointment, Leboeuf feels that Portugal are good enough to compete in 2026. He celebrated the richness and the equilibrium of the existing team and mentioned that Ronaldo can continue to make a decisive contribution as the team leader.
Leboeuf also responded to his own criticism by the people who have supported Ronaldo over the years. Although he has criticized certain elements in the career of Ronaldo, he made it clear that the world cup triumph is the ultimate success in the game.
