The British newspaper The Guardian has written about Cristiano Ronaldo’s withdrawal from the Portugal squad.

If this is indeed the end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career, then at least it can be said that he is leaving the stage in much the same way as he dominated it: with an extraordinarily strong sense of self-importance. Ronaldo has always been a player who enjoys admiring and indulging in himself, but when he was still one of the best players in the world, that could be tolerated. Over the past four years, however, he has clearly and deliberately held Portugal back. Here is a generation of technically gifted players, yet they have been weighed down by the enormous albatross of his ego.

Let us first look back at the basic facts of the past few weeks. Ronaldo played 67 minutes in Portugal’s difficult 1-0 victory over Wales. Portugal manager Jorge Jesus — who replaced Roberto Martínez after the World Cup — said he had a verbal agreement with Ronaldo that the forward would not start the following match against Norway, although he might come on as a substitute. Shortly after the second half began, Ronaldo went out to warm up. It remains unclear whether this was his own decision or whether Jorge Jesus instructed him to do so. The match remained tightly contested, and Portugal eventually won 2-1, but Jorge Jesus did not bring Ronaldo on.

In Ronaldo’s eyes, and in the eyes of many of his defenders, Jorge Jesus had committed an unacceptable provocation. Jorge Jesus’s view was that winning the match mattered more than protecting the extremely fragile emotions of a 41-year-old striker. Ronaldo subsequently withdrew from the squad, perhaps bringing his international career to an end, while Jorge Jesus refused to apologise for what Ronaldo apparently regarded as an act of disrespect. It is sad, although perhaps not in quite the way Ronaldo might think.

Jorge Jesus could have handled the situation differently. To be fair, diplomacy has never been his strongest quality. But after the excessively soft-handed approach adopted by Martínez, perhaps this was exactly what was required. Jorge Jesus is 72. His management style is old-school: he listens to the club or federation president, and even then only when he feels like it. His coaching career has been marked by conflicts with players who resisted him. In a sense, the only surprising thing is that his falling-out with Ronaldo happened as early as his second match in charge.

Many other managers might have been intimidated by Ronaldo’s sulking, the backlash online and criticism from sections of the Portuguese media — some of which are owned by Ronaldo himself. Jorge Jesus was not. He is an extremely articulate manager, constantly producing memorable one-liners, but even by his own standards, his response to the controversy was remarkable. He insisted that the team must always come before any individual:

“I can tell any player: you are on the bench. If I need you for 30 minutes, you play for 30 minutes. If I don’t need you, you don’t play. Based on my reading of the game, he didn’t play. No player will ever change my thinking as a coach. Never. Not him, nor anyone else in football.”

Had Portugal subsequently lost to Denmark, Jorge Jesus’s uncompromising approach might have backfired. Instead, Portugal won 4-2 and played extremely well. Gonçalo Ramos provided an assist and scored against Denmark, having already scored the winning goal against Norway. On Sunday, Ramos scored again as Portugal came from behind to beat Norway at home, giving the team four wins from four during this international window.

Portugal’s players have generally tended to support Ronaldo, insisting that he remains an idol and that they do not mind his increasingly cumbersome movements as he has aged. Bruno Fernandes has been particularly diplomatic, but others have begun to speak more openly. One such player is Vitinha, Ramos’s former Paris Saint-Germain teammate, who has seen at club level just how much can be gained by removing excessive individualism. He pointed out that Portugal’s improvement has been the result of the coach’s work.

Jorge Jesus has proposed meeting Ronaldo once more in an attempt to resolve the situation, but the Portuguese Football Federation appears to have accepted how this is likely to end and has already begun making plans for a farewell match for the greatest goalscorer in the history of the national team. Both Jorge Jesus and Ronaldo have said they will make further statements this week.

But the truth is that this was a split that should have happened long ago. Across three consecutive major tournaments, Ronaldo has held back an exceptionally talented Portugal side. It is a sad story that Ronaldo’s international career should end in this fashion. But the saddest part of all is that a great player could become so deluded about his own declining abilities that the hopes and dreams of an entire national team have effectively been sacrificed to his pursuit of goals and records.