As Lionel Messi prepares to get a hero's farewell for his successful international career, Cristiano Ronaldo's could have ended with him running down the tunnel at the final whistle of a game he did not play. After the World Cup, Argentina's Messi, 39, decided to retire from international football, while Ronaldo, 41, opted to play on for Portugal. Yet there is the possibility that Messi's Argentina career will end up lasting a few days longer - with a home friendly with Benin on Tuesday marked as his final game.
Ronaldo, furious at being made to warm up and not be brought on against Norway in the Nations League, walked out on the Portugal squad after finding out he would not start against Denmark either. The Al-Nassr forward has scored 146 goals and won 234 caps for Portugal - both world records. After such a high-profile falling-out with new boss Jorge Jesus, also a larger than life character who does not back down, Ronaldo is facing a big decision.
Jesus has insisted he would be welcome back if he wants to return and talks between Ronaldo, his representatives and the Portuguese FA are ongoing as they look for a solution. While Ronaldo could not carry on playing forever, this is not how he would have expected his international career to end. His fans are remaining loyal to him, with social media full of posts supporting Ronaldo and criticising Jesus, while on the other side some fans and a lot of Portugal's media have been critical of what they see as selfish behaviour.
Ahead of Portugal's next match against Denmark in November lies a big decision for one of the world's greatest ever players. Is this the end for Ronaldo - and would Portugal miss him? After the World Cup, Portugal replaced Roberto Martinez with Jesus, who had been Ronaldo's boss with Al-Nassr last season.
Less than two weeks ago, Ronaldo said: "I had a conversation with our president, with our coach. I still believe that I'm able to help the national team to reach what they want." Things were still looking OK when he started in the 1-0 win over Wales. Jesus told Ronaldo he would be on the bench for the next game against Norway.
After being told to warm up for a period of the game, he remained an unused substitute in a Portugal game for the first time in 18 years. Guillem Balague, who wrote a book about Ronaldo in 2015, said: "He gets asked to warm up for the whole of the second half, practically. "There are tacit rules in football: you don't do that to Pele, to Diego Maradona, to Lionel Messi, to Cristiano, right?
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