Craig Bellamy has spoken of the moment he witnessed Cristiano Ronaldo bring Lisbon airport to a standstill, describing the Portugal forward as “beyond a superstar” on the eve of Wales’ Nations League A opener against Portugal at the Estádio José Alvalade on Thursday.
The Wales head coach was on a pre-season trip to the Portuguese capital during his time as an assistant to Vincent Kompany at Burnley when the airport was effectively locked down. Bellamy and the Burnley party were on a coach with what he described as “a little bit of VIP” and were unable to get off as police and security officials massed around the terminal.
“So we got to the airport and the police were everywhere. It was on lockdown,” Bellamy said. “It was like rows of police with police cars everywhere. We thought, ‘something has happened, there must be a warning here’. Everything was locked off. People in the terminal, you name it. We couldn’t get off the coach and we had to wait for what we thought was a security breach or something.
“We are stuck on the coach for 10, 15 minutes and suddenly this car turns up, it parks and a guy walks out, goes in the boot, grabs a rucksack and someone else gets out and puts the rucksack on and who is it? Ronaldo.”
Bellamy added: “He is walking on his own with police everywhere and Lisbon airport locked off. Even the police were taking pictures. No-one could bother him. It was the coolest walk I have ever watched for a minute. We were all on the coach and our jaws dropped. Everyone who had been moaning quickly shut up. It was like presidents stuff.”
The scale of the reception, Bellamy said, is precisely why he tells the story. “How can you lock off a whole airport? I would not be able to get my computer through customs in Cardiff airport. What have I just seen? The reason I’m telling the story is because that’s how big this guy is. It was like, ‘wow’. I’m so glad I saw that moment because he is beyond a superstar.”
Ronaldo’s standing in the game is not in doubt: five Ballon d’Or wins, eight league titles, five Champions Leagues, a European Championship and two Nations League triumphs sit among his honours, and he won the first of his 233 Portugal caps in 2003. The 41-year-old is now in his 24th year as a senior Portugal international. During the summer he confirmed the 2026 World Cup would be his last, although he has not yet revealed when his career will finally end.
Bellamy said he can understand why Ronaldo continues to operate at an elite level. “I’m not surprised he is still playing with the professionalism he has shown,” he said. “It’s also how clever he is, he knows how to protect himself, he knows not to waste his energy at certain times and he’s still got the habit of goal-scoring, and you never lose that. We’re talking about not just one of the greatest players of our generation, we’re talking all generations with what he has been able to do. He’s beyond a superstar.”
The two men last shared a pitch in October 2008, when Ronaldo scored twice for Manchester United in a 2-0 Premier League win over West Ham United at Old Trafford. Bellamy is now the one tasked with devising a plan to contain Ronaldo and a star-studded Portugal squad, and his already difficult job has been made harder by a list of absentees. Wales will be without players including Harry Wilson, Joe Rodon, Karl Darlow, Nathan Broadhead, Dylan Lawlor, Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies in Lisbon.
Bellamy nevertheless wants his players to embrace the occasion as they attempt to stay in the top tier of the Nations League. “We have to be excited, but not too excited,” he said. “We have worked hard to get into League A, so what can we do to stay in it? If we do then it will help us massively and that’s the motivation. You want to be in these moments. I’m telling you, when your playing days finish, you won’t remember Bury away and all that. These moments you will remember and will live with you. But you also want to remember how you performed. You don’t want this to get too much. I want my players to go out and give everything. They should love every second of it. That’s the drive for this.”