Cristiano Ronaldo's last World Cup ended in a 1-0 loss to Spain, and it felt like the end of an era

Cristiano Ronaldo's last World Cup ended the way plenty of great careers do, one goal short and a stoppage time gut punch away from a different story.

Portugal went out 1-0 to Spain in the round of 16 in Arlington on Monday, with Mikel Merino scoring the only goal deep into second half stoppage time. Ronaldo, 41, had already confirmed before the tournament that this would be his final World Cup, and he walked off it with what he called a clear conscience rather than the trophy that has eluded him his entire international career.

The numbers alone are staggering. Twenty seven World Cup appearances, second only to Lionel Messi's thirty, spread across an international career most players would consider finished a decade ago. He leaves the tournament with everything except the one trophy that actually completes the collection.

That gap is the whole story of Ronaldo's World Cup career if you are being honest about it. Ballon d'Ors, Champions League medals, goal scoring records that will take another generation to threaten, and still no World Cup winner's medal to put next to any of it. Messi got his fairytale ending in Qatar. Ronaldo's ends with a stoppage time winner from the other side and a warm tribute reel instead.

Whatever your read on him as a player or a person, lining up in a knockout match at 41 against a Spain side stacked with players half his age is not nothing. The tributes flooding in since full time are not just ceremonial, they are the sport genuinely working out what international football looks like once he is not occasionally still turning up to it.

Football moves on fast, and someone else will be the next main character by the next tournament. But this is the moment worth sitting with properly before that happens. Watch the highlights, argue about the legacy with your group chat, and give the send off its due. There will not be another one like it.