Jorge Jesus walked into the Portugal job like a man inheriting a house where one room is locked and everyone pretends it doesn’t exist. That room is Cristiano Ronaldo, and it has been humming with its own electricity for approximately two decades.
The new coach’s first squad announcement did what every Portugal coach since 2008 has done: named Ronaldo. Not because he’s suddenly become younger. Not because the midfield suddenly needed a 41-year-old winger who now plays in Saudi Arabia. But because there exists a gravitational pull so strong that even a coach with fresh ideas walks in and immediately orbits around the same star.
Here’s the thing that should terrify Portugal fans more than any individual selection: this announcement tells you everything about where the conversation is. It’s not about whether Diogo Jota is in form. It’s not about whether Bruno Fernandes can carry the midfield one more time. It’s not about the actual architecture of a team that needs to compete. It’s about whether Ronaldo gets his squad number.
The absurdity isn’t that he was picked. It’s that picking him has become the national team’s defining characteristic. Portugal has talented midfielders, creative forwards, and defensive options that would make most countries weep. But the story isn’t about them. The story is Ronaldo, again, still, always.
Jesus didn’t just inherit a job. He inherited a distraction that wears a Portugal kit. And on day one, he chose to keep wearing it.