India cricketer Virat Kohli has paid a heartfelt tribute to Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo whose teary-eyed exit from the FIFA World Cup 2022 after a quarterfinal defeat has struck a chord among the elite athletes and public figures worldwide. Clips and images of an emotional Ronaldo heading back to the team dressing room after Morocco defeated Portugal 1-0 have been shared widely with fans fearing that the football icon may have played his last game for Portugal.
And on Sunday, the 37-year-old broke his silence on the defeat, admitting his biggest dream was to win the world cup trophy with Portugal but it has now come to an end. The post on Instagram has since gone viral with fans and fellow athletes flooding the comment section with messages of suppport.
Early Monday morning, Kohli, currently on the Bangladesh tour, wrote that no title or trophy will take anything away from what Ronaldo has done for football and fans globally and called him the ‘greatest of all time’.
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“No trophy or any title can take anything away from what you’ve done in this sport and for sports fans around the world. No title can explain the impact you’ve had on people and what I and so many around the world feel when we watch you play,” Kohli, a Ronaldo fan, posted on Instagram.
“That’s a gift from god. A real blessing to a man who plays his heart out every single time and is the epitome of hard work and dedication and a true inspiration for any sportsperson. You are for me the greatest of all time,” he added.
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Kohli’s post has also gone viral.
Ronaldo, who has left Qatar for home, though has said he won’t react in the heat of the moment, saying his dedication to Portugal has never wavered.
“There’s no point in reacting rashly,” Ronaldo wrote. “I just want everybody to know that a lot has been said, a lot has been written, a lot has been speculated about, but my dedication to Portugal has never wavered for an instant.”
“I’ve always been just one more (Portuguese) fighting for everyone’s goal. I would never turn my back on my teammates or my country,” he added.
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Ronaldo has a truckload of trophies throughout his career but the biggest of them all, the FIFA World Cup, has remained elusive.
“In my five appearances at World Cups over 16 years, always playing alongside great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I have given my all. I left everything I had on the pitch. I’ll never shrink from a battle and I have never given up on that dream.
“Unfortunately, that dream ended yesterday,” he added.
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