Portuguese article: Ronaldo’s successor in the number 7 shirt must make his own path

In an article for the Portuguese newspaper A Bola, Rui Pedro Soares argued that Cristiano Ronaldo’s successor in Portugal’s number 7 shirt should not be chosen in search of a player who imitates him, but should be given room to be different and forge his own path.

Soares pointed to Vitinha and João Neves as examples of different ways to excel, not as the only candidates to succeed Ronaldo. He described Vitinha as an intelligent, composed player who links the team’s lines and improves his teammates’ performances, while highlighting Neves’s career and achievements, noting that the discussion was not intended to compare the two.

The article argued that the number 7 had taken on a significance beyond a tactical choice after Ronaldo wore it for nearly two decades, succeeding Luís Figo, and that it had become part of the Portuguese people’s memory and their image of their country. Soares concluded that Ronaldo’s legacy should be a source of inspiration, not a burden, and that the new wearer of the number would not be another version of him, but an expression of Portugal’s future.