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🚨Roberto Carlos on Portugal redesigning Cristiano Ronaldo’s number 7 instead of retiring it: 🗣️ Roberto Carlos: “Someone told me Portugal are redesigning the number seven to honour Cristiano, and I honestly had to ask, ‘What does that mean?’ Because if another player is still going to wear seven, then you haven’t really honoured Cristiano’s number. You have changed the design. For me, that is not enough. I know Portugal have had incredible players before Cristiano. Eusébio. Figo. Rui Costa. Deco. This isn’t about pretending they didn’t exist. But Cristiano gave Portugal something that is very difficult to measure. He became the player the entire country looked towards when everything became difficult. I played football for Brazil, so I understand what it means when a national team has one player carrying an enormous amount of expectation. With Cristiano, you could feel it. Before the important matches, everyone knew who they were going to talk about. ‘Cristiano has to score.’ ‘Cristiano has to perform.’ ‘Cristiano has to save us.’ And the strange thing is, he never ran away from that responsibility. He asked for the ball. He wanted the difficult moments. He wanted the penalty. He wanted the free-kick. He wanted to take the shot when everyone else was nervous. That is what made him different. People will remember the goals, the celebrations and the trophies. I remember the responsibility. I remember watching Portugal when the match was going badly and Cristiano was still demanding the ball. That tells you everything about the player. He became Portugal’s record goalscorer. He became their most capped player. He won the European Championship. He won the Nations League. He scored in World Cups. He gave that country more international goals than anybody else in their history. And he did all of that wearing number seven. So when I hear that Portugal have simply redesigned the number, I think they are missing an opportunity. Look at Argentina and Messi. They understood that number ten had become connected to a player who changed their football history. They found a way to honour that. Portugal should be asking themselves why they cannot do something similar for Cristiano. And before somebody tells me, ‘The regulations don’t allow you to retire the number,’ fine. Then ask. Make the request. Go to the authorities and explain why you believe Cristiano deserves it. If they say no, at least you tried. But don’t use regulations as an excuse to do nothing. Then people will say, ‘What about the next generation?’ Give them another number. Let them create their own history. If a young Portuguese player becomes a legend wearing number eight, number eleven or number twenty, wonderful. That player doesn’t need Cristiano’s number to become Cristiano’s successor. He needs his own story. And imagine what it would mean for that young player to ask why nobody wears seven. You tell him, ‘Because Cristiano Ronaldo wore it for Portugal for more than twenty years and gave this country something we decided was worth protecting.’ That isn’t limiting the next generation. That’s teaching them what legacy means. Cristiano shouldn’t have to ask Portugal for this. He shouldn’t have to explain why he deserves recognition. The federation watched everything. They watched the goals. They watched the trophies. They watched him carry the pressure. They watched him keep coming back when people said he was finished. They know what he gave them. So I think Portugal needs to make a decision. Do you want number seven to simply continue being a shirt number? Or do you want it to represent one of the greatest chapters in Portuguese football? For me, the answer is obvious. You can give another player the shirt. But you can never give another player what Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal. And that is exactly why I believe number seven should belong to his legacy forever.”