MUNICH: Another trophy for Cristiano Ronaldo. More records, more adulation.
The Portugal star shed tears after helping his team win the Nations League on Sunday.
Ronaldo scored to help Portugal draw level with Spain 2-2 in the final, then watched as his teammates won the penalty shootout 5-3.
“I have many titles with my clubs, but nothing is better than winning for Portugal,” Ronaldo said. “These are tears. It’s mission accomplished and so much joy.”
The 40-year-old Ronaldo had been the first to run out onto the field for the pre-game warmup, sparking a huge roar from the Portugal supporters, including many wearing jerseys emblazoned with his name.
His appearance prompted many supporters to pull out their cell phones to record the superstar while they could still see him in action. Ronaldo conceded Saturday that he won’t be able to play forever.
That was three days after he helped Portugal to its first win over Germany for 25 years, scoring the winner for a 2-1 victory in the Nations League semifinals.
On Sunday he was driving the team again, though it was initially a frustrating game as his chances were limited by Spain’s hard-working defenders.
Nuno Mendes fired Portugal level after Martin Zubimendi opened the scoring for Spain. Then Mikel Oyarzabal put Spain ahead 2-1 at the break.
But Ronaldo was in the right place at the right time to fire home the equalizer from Mendes’ deflected cross in the 61st, setting off joyous scenes among his faithful fans. It was Ronaldo’s 138th goal for Portugal. Nobody has ever scored more for their country.
Ronaldo kept trying in what was his record-extending 221st appearance for the country, but eventually had to go off exhausted in the 88th to standing ovations from fans and a hug from coach Roberto Martínez.
Ronaldo said he was carrying an injury into the game.
“I had already felt it during the warmup, I had been feeling it for some time, but for the national team, if I had to break my leg, I would have broken it,” Ronaldo said. “It’s for a trophy, I had to play and I gave it my all.”
Ronaldo’s future is uncertain as his contract with Saudi club Al-Nassr only runs to the end of June. He posted “this chapter is over” on social media after the club’s last Saudi Pro League game of the season.
On Saturday he said he had all but decided not to go to the Club World Cup despite “quite a few” offers from participating clubs to play there.
Whatever club Ronaldo plays for, he will keep striving for Portugal.
“I have lived in many countries, I have played for many clubs, but when it’s about Portugal, it is always a special feeling,” he said.

PARIS: Carlos Alcaraz saved three championship points as he produced an astonishing fightback from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner in a French Open final for the ages on Sunday.
Reigning champion Alcaraz rallied from the brink of defeat to overcome world number one Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (10/2) to clinch his fifth Grand Slam title after five hours and 29 minutes.
The 22-year-old Spaniard is now unbeaten in five Grand Slam finals after snapping Sinner’s 20-match winning run at the majors.
Alcaraz pulled off his first ever comeback from two sets down to stun Sinner in the longest Roland Garros final in history. It easily eclipsed the 1982 final in Paris when Mats Wilander triumphed in four sets over Guillermo Vilas in 4hr 42min.
Alcaraz becomes the third youngest man to win five Grand Slams — after Bjorn Borg and compatriot Rafael Nadal — following an incredible duel between the two stars of a new generation.
Sinner fell agonizingly short of a third successive Grand Slam crown after last year’s US Open title and back-to-back Australian Open triumphs.
He suffered his fifth straight loss to Alcaraz in what was their first meeting in a Grand Slam final — and the first championship match at a major between two men born in the 2000s.
Alcaraz leads 8-5 overall having also beaten Sinner to win in Rome, where the Italian returned to competition in May after a three-month doping ban.
Alcaraz put the pressure on Sinner by carving out three break points to start Saturday’s final, but the Italian resisted and soon had a chance of his own.
He couldn’t take advantage and found himself having to fend off two more break points at 1-1, producing clutch serves to grind out another tough hold.
Alcaraz’s persistence paid off in the fifth game when he broke to nudge 3-2 ahead, only for the Spaniard to immediately hand the lead back.
The unshakeable Sinner threatened to break again at 4-3, with a brief lapse from Alcaraz eventually enabling Sinner to snatch the first set.
Sinner hit the accelerator to start the second set, surging 3-0 in front. After facing seven break points in the opener, he tightened up considerably on serve.
But Alcaraz brought up his first break point of the second set with Sinner serving for a two-set lead, duly pouncing on the opportunity to check his rival’s momentum.
With the swagger back in his step at a crucial juncture, Alcaraz sought to bring the crowd into the contest but Sinner remained unflustered in the tie-break.
The first five points went with serve before Sinner whipped a forehand down the line and Alcaraz then steered an attempted drop-shot wide.
A tame return into the net presented Sinner with four set points. Alcaraz saved two before Sinner unleashed a blistering cross-court forehand to move to within a set of the trophy.
It all looked to be going his way when he broke Alcaraz to begin the third set, but the Spaniard refused to surrender his title quietly and rattled off four games on the bounce to lead 4-1.
Alcaraz lost serve at 5-3 but promptly broke to love to force a fourth set, lapping up the roars of the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.
That ended Sinner’s run of 31 consecutive sets won at Grand Slams.
Alcaraz saved a break point in the third game amid a series of holds as Sinner doubled down. The Italian appeared to be closing in on victory when he broke at 3-3 as the finish line neared.
But Alcaraz had other ideas as he staved off three championship points at 3-5 and then broke Sinner when he tried to seal the title on his serve.
Successive aces spurred a reinvigorated Alcaraz on in the tie-break and into a decisive fifth set.
A despairing Sinner lost his serve right away and his gloom deepened as Alcaraz saved two break points to pull 3-1 ahead, but incredibly there was another twist.
Alcaraz this time faltered with the title within his grasp as Sinner broke at 3-5 to spark a three-game burst that left the Spaniard needing to hold serve to prolong the final.
He kept his nerve to set up a 10-point tie-break, which Alcaraz ran away with as the outrageous shotmaking continued until the very end when he took his first championship point with a sizzling forehand down the line.