Its Ronaldo Swansong But What Gives Portugal Extra Reason To Go The Distance

Winning the World Cup in what would definitely be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last tilt would arguably be the biggest motivation for the Portuguese team, but they would also like to do it for someone who will not be there with them in the flesh.

Diogo Jota would have been there had he not been killed in a car crash almost a year ago, but defener Diogo Dalot believes he will be there in spirit with his compatriots as they embark on their campaign in the United States.

“This summer, we will not just have 26 players. We will be 26+1,” Dalot writes in The Players’ Tribune in the days leading up to the World Cup.

He conveys the shock he and his teammates felt when they got the fateful news.

“I refused to believe it… Even when his death was confirmed, it seemed too sick to me to be true. Just a few weeks earlier, we were celebrating the Nations League title together. I could still see him next to me, raising the trophy and dancing under the confetti. At 28, he had so much left to give. Being his teammate was an honour.”

Jota’s funeral is still fresh in Dalot’s mind.

“When his casket was carried out of the church, and I saw how his wife was suffering, my heart broke into a thousand pieces,” he recalls. “On the Portugal bus, Diogo would always sit next to Rúben Neves, his best friend on the team, but at the next camp his seat was empty. Rúben was sitting there alone, and you could see that he didn’t know how to handle it. None of us did.”

Now they are determined to go the extra mile for Jota.

“I think all we can do is to chase his dream. He wanted so badly to see Portugal become world champions. We won’t just be fighting for our country. We’ll be fighting for Diogo.”

Like any other Portuguese player of his generation or even the one before, Dalot is in awe of Ronaldo, with whom he has played both for the national team as well as Manchester United.

“To me, it’s totally crazy that anyone could even debate whether he (Ronaldo) should play at the World Cup. Is he running like he’s 22? No. Is he scoring a goal per game? Yes. Does he make us all better? Yes. The guy is 41. He doesn’t need to be there, playing with people who are young enough to be his kids, but he is,” he feels.

“Every time you meet him, you leave a little wiser. That season with Cristiano was when I really started to grow as a player and as a person, because he knows so well what it takes to go to the top. After I met Cristiano, my goal was not just to work as much as possible, but to stay in the best possible state mentally and physically.” Come June 17, when Portugal face the Democratic Republic of Congo in Houston, it will be his second time at the World Cup. And the son of a lawyer father – a diehard Porto fan – and teacher mother, whose sister is a professional musician, is determined to make his family proud on the biggest stage.

“I’m from a family that turns every stone in order to do the best they can,” he explains his motivation.