Portugal will pay tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday in Braga, but the guest of honor may not be there to see it. On the day of the ceremony, Al Nassr shared images of the forward training in Saudi Arabia, which suggests that he will not travel to Portugal for the match against Denmark.
The homage is the first since Ronaldo retired from the national team on Nov. 5. All of Portugal’s players are set to walk onto the pitch wearing the No. 7 shirt, and the stadium is expected to rise for a standing ovation in the seventh minute.
Al Nassr, meanwhile, shared a post showing Ronaldo at work with the club. “The calendar pauses. The work doesn’t,” read the caption, a reference to the pause in the calendar because of the international break. The message does not mention Portugal or the tribute, but it shows that he is working with his club in Saudi Arabia while the national teams play.
His presence in Braga had not been confirmed in the days leading up to the match, and there has been no official statement that rules it out. The images from Saudi Arabia, however, point toward the most likely scenario: that Ronaldo will watch the tribute from afar, after a retirement that followed tensions with coach Jorge Jesus.
*Developing story
