Cristiano Ronaldo in tears as he suffers heartbreaking end to World Cup career and breaks unwanted record

Spain have knocked Portugal out of the World Cup, which means that Cristiano Ronaldo has played his last such game.

The footballing icon confirmed beforehand that he was playing at his last World Cup tournament.

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Ronaldo, who’s Portugal’s all-time record scorer with 146 goals, had not been able to get his hands on the biggest prize in world football.

And his World Cup career was brought to a sorry end on Monday as Spain claimed a late 1-0 victory in Texas.

Mikel Merino scored the winner in the opening moments of stoppage time in the second half to send his country into the quarter-finals.

Ronaldo also made an unwanted piece of history in the last 16 clash.

The 41-year-old has hit the most shots at a single World Cup without creating a single chance for his teammate with 17.

He has surpassed former Mexico midfielder Alberto Garcia Aspe, who totalled 15.

During the post-match scenes, Ronaldo could be seen in tears as he looked towards Portugal fans in the crowd.

When walking back to the dressing room, he and his teammates cut solemn figures as they reflected on the end of their campaign.

Ronaldo’s World Cup career

Aged 21 years and 132 days, Ronaldo became the youngest player to score for Portugal at the World Cup with a goal against Iran in 2006.

He played in all but one of their matches en route to the semi-finals, and returned with another two goals in the 2010 edition.

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Ronaldo later became the oldest player to score a hat-trick when he hit three past Spain in the 2018 group stage.

However, Portugal suffered another early exit and were then dealt a shock defeat to Morocco in 2022.

After the full-time whistle blew in Qatar, Ronaldo went straight down the tunnel in tears.

This summer’s tournament provided one final opportunity for him to become a world champion.

Ronaldo scored his first ever World Cup knockout stage goal in the 2-1 win over Croatia last week.

But Portugal produced another poor showing against Spain and the greatest player in their history has missed out on glory once again.

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Ronaldo played at six World Cups, the joint-most with his long-time rival Lionel Messi of Argentina.

He made 27 appearances, which is the second-highest amount of all-time behind Messi, and scored 11 goals.

Spain keep World Cup hopes alive

They may not have excelled against Portugal, but Spain managed to create their own piece of World Cup history.

La Roja are the first side to keep six consecutive clean sheets in the competition, five of which have come this summer.

A quarter-final clash against the United States or Belgium awaits on July 10.

Victory would send them into a semi-final test against the winners of France v Morocco.