Cristiano Ronaldo eyes big prizes with Portugal after rare club season without a trophy

Portugal’s best footballers assembled in Lisbon this week amid the jingle of freshly-minted medals. There was Rafael Leao, still beaming about the Serie A title he played such a large part in seizing for AC Milan. Goalkeeper Rui Patricio was there with something novel in his luggage: a first place in the inaugural Europa Conference League, achieved with Roma.

The Manchester City cohort, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo checked in with their Premier League gongs, as Ruben Dias would have done but for the fact he is recuperating from injury.

Liverpool’s Diogo Jota touched down with tales to tell about his two English Cups, FA and League, and his narrow-miss silver medals from the league and Champions League.

William Carvalho has his Spanish Copa del Rey with Real Betis. Then there’s the Paris Saint-Germain pair, Danilo and Nuno Mendes, whose club strolled to the Ligue 1 title, and the trio from Porto – Otavio, Vitinha and the veteran Pepe – who have regained the Portuguese league title.

The captain of the national squad congratulated each of them and then quickly moved the focus on, to the two international titles on his and their agenda before the end of 2022. No Portugal player will approach qualifying for the next Uefa Nations League finals and the World Cup with as much intensity as the captain, the veteran Cristiano Ronaldo.

He will also recognise there are questions being whispered about his mobility and endurance, and that it is an unusual summer camp when he is not the man receiving applause from compatriots for his achievements in the previous season.

The last of the eight league crowns Ronaldo lists on his honours is Serie A in 2019-20, the second title of his three years at Juventus. The last silverware was the