No doubt Ronaldo is an exceptional footballer in this era, and he would still love to play even at the age of 45. But the problem is his inability to adapt to the changes he will encounter. (1) no coach will want to make a footballer in his late thirties the first choice of his team, especially when the performance is below target. 2) a player at that age is limited to a particular hour of performance. All these are factors Ronaldo is currently finding difficult to adapt to. He still wants to be seen as the team's first choice, and this strive will continue to torture him till when he chooses to resign. I presume we have witnessed the end of Ronaldo's era, is high time he resigns with dignity.
Ronaldo was mistreated during the 2022 world cup. The coach benched him for most of the quarter-final match and sent him only when 35 minutes or so was left. And as a result Portugal lost to Morocco. Irrespective of his age, Ronaldo remains the top performer for Portugal. But the coach didn't like him and therefore he wasn't given a chance to play for most of the duration. If Fernando Santos remains as the coach, then I don't think that Ronaldo should play for Portugal again. This is not the way to treat a legendary player.