Watching Cristiano Ronaldo Jr play for Portugal: A familiar number, CR7 boots and a languid style

An excited group of local kids are craning their necks to glimpse the Portugal No 7 with one of the most recognisable names in the world.

The youngsters, many wearing shirts with the same number adorned across their backs, are jostling for position, filming on their phones and screaming his name: “Ronaldo! Ronaldo!”

Security usher the footballer onto the team bus, so the children dash round the side to wave at him through the window. He obliges. They scream again.

We may essentially be in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny Croatian village barely accessible by public transport, but judging by the intense clamour even to catch sight of him, the name of Ronaldo resonates just as strongly here as it would in Lisbon, Madeira, Manchester or Madrid.

Except the Ronaldo appearing in Sveti Martin na Muri, three miles from the Slovenian border and a good 90-minute drive away from a major city, isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo, oh no. It’s Cristiano Ronaldo Junior.

Yep, here we go again.

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It’s not unusual for a superstar footballer’s son — and by superstar, we’re talking cream of the historical crop, unequivocally a top-10 male player of all time — to attempt to follow in their footsteps.

In fact, it’s very common.

Edinho was a goalkeeper for his father Pele’s club Santos in the 1990s, while Maradona had a son, very much born out of wedlock (whom his mother named Diego Armando Maradona Jr), who flitted around the Italian lower leagues and was called up by Italy Under-17s.

Stephan Beckenbauer played for 1860 Munich, Enzo Zidane came through the Real Madrid youth set-up to forge a career at the lower levels, while perhaps the most successful example is Jordi Cruyff, formerly of Manchester United, Barcelona and the Netherlands. Attacking midfielder Daniel Maldini, currently of Atalanta and Italy, may still top that.

Obviously, none of them reached the levels their father did (although Calum Best won Love Island, which would no doubt have made his father very proud), but it’s still a logical path to forge; you’ve got incredible genes, but also easily accessible opportunities that aren’t afforded to the vast majority of footballers.

The name, though, must be a burden. Zidane’s lad, who went by Enzo Fernandez, once said: “It’s not going to change, but I try to remove myself from it and focus on being the best possible Enzo.

“People compare you, criticise you, want more from you, and say you are there because you are somebody’s son.”

Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, then, is the latest offspring of a god’s gift-level footballer to attempt to live up to his father’s name (Thiago Messi plays for Inter Miami’s youth team by the way, so, you know, get ready for that again).

Like mini-Messi, mini-Ronaldo plays for his father’s club, in his case the Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr, having also appeared for Real Madrid, Manchester United (alongside Kai Rooney) and Juventus (where he reportedly scored 58 goals in one season).

We know he can take a decent free kick (as evidenced here in a video watched by 14million people), but following your famous dad around is no barometer of talent.

However, a couple of weeks ago, something much more tangible happened; the 14-year-old was called up by his country to represent Portugal Under-15s.

He headed to Croatia this week to, yes, follow in his father’s footsteps and represent the national team, specifically in an annual eight-nation youth competition called the Vlatko Markovic Tournament.

The Athletic went along to see how he got on.

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If a star was to be born here, the surroundings were inauspicious.

A Croatian FA base 70-odd miles north of the capital Zagreb, Sveti Martin na Muri houses a few decent-looking pitches and a couple of small buildings. It’s not signposted.

It’s Tuesday morning and the international career of Cristiano Ronaldo Jr is just moments away, with an 80-minute match against Japan due to start at 12.15pm.

In a small shack on the far side of the pitch, they’re watching clips of what looks like an old Dinamo Zagreb match from the 1980s, one which descends into a punch-up amid water cannons controlling unruly fans. The locals boisterously discuss it and have a chuckle, but in Croatian, so The Athletic will have to assume they’re enjoying it. Oh, and the bar doesn’t take cards, which gives an idea of how far-flung this place is.

Spectators begin to fill the couple of hundred seats which line one side of the pitch. They are a mixture of players’ parents, locals from the village, agents and scouts. This tournament not only features Portugal, Japan and Croatia, but also England, France, Switzerland, Romania and Greece. There are burgeoning talents to be spotted.

Talking of which, it’s easy to sport young Ronaldo, with his coiffed haircut and rangy frame. He’s one of the first to step off the Portugal team bus, something which prompts a mini rush of photographers, both official and unofficial, to snap the heir to the Ronaldo throne. A young man wearing an AC Milan top takes the first picture of many. He will document Ronaldo’s almost every move over the next couple of hours.

“It’s Cristiano,” one of the local security staff whispers.

Back in the shack, the local barflies have cottoned onto the Ronaldo news. He’s on the substitutes’ bench but listed under the name of Cristiano dos Santos (his middle names). “Cris-ti-ahh-no dos San-tos,” one man punctuates to his friend, prodding firmly at the team sheet, before exclaiming loudly and proudly: “Ronaldo!”

This tournament is always well attended, but there’s a buzz around the place this year. Ronaldo shirts are everywhere, be it Al-Nassr, Portugal or Manchester United, all with a No 7 on the back.

And while “Cristiano dos Santos” may not be carrying the Ronaldo name today, he is adorning the famous No 7. He also plays as an inverted left forward; like father, like son.

Anyway, that will have to wait because after the closely-inspected warm-ups, during which the eagle-eyed will have noticed his CR7 Nike Mercurial boots, Ronaldo Jr has to take his place on the bench for now.

Attention turns to a famous face in the crowd the official photographers have spotted. The snappers are stood in a group with their camera lenses pointed towards the back row of the tiny seated area, prompting several dozen people to turn around and glare in the same direction.

Who is it? Ronaldo hasn’t turned up, has he? Or his wife Georgina? No, it’s Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores.

To be fair, she’s not exactly hiding her identity, sporting a Portugal shirt with ‘Dolores 7’ on the back. The local youngsters have clocked on and immediately form a queue for selfies.

“Is Cristiano coming today?” one of the kids politely enquires.

“No,” she says with a shake of the head and a smile.

With her grandson Ronaldo Jr twiddling his thumbs, Dolores has now become the main attraction. At half-time, she makes a break for the toilet and is absolutely besieged by 20 selfie hunters, all of them children. The poor woman is just trying to queue for the loo, but she is politeness personified and graciously gives a beaming, smiling picture-based memory for every single child.

And then a few grown men who also want a picture.

A young boy in a Portugal top is ecstatic and shows his friend the selfie. The grown men seem equally as pleased. The power of Ronaldo.

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There are 52 minutes on the clock when the international career of Cristiano dos Santos begins.

To say the excitement is palpable would be an understatement — amid the Portuguese, Croatian and Japanese words that The Athletic hears when ambling around the pitch, the word ‘Cristiano’ has been uttered dozens and dozens of times. When Ronaldo Jr went to warm up with his fellow subs behind the goal, the local kids all sprinted off in that direction and yelled and squealed ‘Cristiano’ or ‘Junior’ in the lad’s direction.

Even some elderly locals who have temporarily halted their bike ride to see what the commotion is all about are talking about the boy who has yet to even kick a football in anger in an organised match. “Seven, yes,” one says.

There is punchy applause and a few cheers as Ronaldo Jr enters the fray. Everyone is waiting for that first touch… will he flick it over a Japanese defender’s head and spank one into the top corner from 30 yards? Maybe an overhead kick from the halfway line? Yeah, expectations are unreasonably high.

Then it happens… his first touch is… to block a Japan free kick at the near post, in diligent fashion. Good lad.

In fact, with Japan trailing 2-0, they are often on the attack in the second half and that forces Ronaldo Jr in retreat to help out Portugal’s left-back. He does so industriously, blocking crosses and the like.

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Parabéns pela estreia por @selecaoportugal, filho. Muito orgulho em ti! pic.twitter.com/BWbKDewDnZ

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) May 13, 2025

What you first notice about Ronaldo Jr the footballer is how different he is to his father.

Now bear in mind that, when Ronaldo was 17, he sported a weird blonde braid thing which looked like Rodney Trotter’s ill-fated ponytail on Only Fools and Horses, while every single touch of the ball involved a stepover. The point is, he was not similar to the player he became.

It is fascinating, though, to see the contrast in styles between father and son. Ronaldo Jr, being only 14, has a lot of growing and filling out still to do, and is gangly in appearance and languid in style. He is one of the tallest in the Portugal team and his manner in possession is more akin to, say, Dimitar Berbatov, embarking on unhurried glides.

It’s impossible not to make comparisons, which is wildly unjust when his father is one of the greatest to ever kick a football but, that said, there are a couple of similarities in how he gets up characteristically high for a firm header in midfield that he cushions nicely to a team-mate.

Mostly, you notice the differences, both in the way he moves but also his instincts in possession, which are often to look for a team-mate and to link play rather than athletically burst towards the opposition box.

After the final whistle following a 4-1 victory (and, yes, we might be in the middle of nowhere watching Portugal Under-15s versus Japan Under-15s but they still play Freed From Desire by Gala at full time) the Portugal youngsters head over to the far side of the pitch where their families are gathered, to give high-fives to the crowd.

There are dozens of people screaming his name and the young Ronaldo appears bashful and shy. His ears prick up, though, to a deep-throated shout of ‘Tiano, Tiano’ from Dolores’ companion and he smiles as he jogs towards them for a post-match family selfie.

Then Portugal’s staff get angry for people trying to get into the background, summing up what really is a bit of a circus.

It’s a similar story the next day when Portugal take on Greece, with Ronaldo fans everywhere you look.

Ronaldo Jr starts this time and it’s a game he certainly enjoys more, provoking a huge cheer from the crowd as he stylishly saunters past two opposition players when embarking on a run in his own half.

He also comes agonisingly close to scoring his first international goal when a side-footed volley from a free kick bounces off the inside of the post.

“They are all promising players, otherwise they wouldn’t be here,” Portugal Under-15s manager Joao Santos tells The Athletic of his team, although he won’t discuss Ronaldo Jr’s performance as he doesn’t want to single out an individual.

“We have to wait to see if they’re going to be great players. We hope so, let’s see what the future holds.”

There will be many more games to come before we even have a proper inkling of how good young Ronaldo is going to be. In fact, he will be back in action today when Portugal play England, the latest step on what could be a journey into professional football.

Either way, if he winks towards a team-mate after helping to have an England player sent off, you’ll know he’s his father’s son.

(Top photo: Damir Sencar/AFP via Getty Images)

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