Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo will hope to take Portugal one step closer to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar over the international break.

Ronaldo is back from suspension to lead his side against Luxembourg in a Group A qualifier next week, but not before his country faces the hosts of next year’s finals.

Ronaldo now has 180 caps for his nation

It’s likely the 36-year-old has his eyes on the tournament for one last shot at winning the World Cup.

The all-time top scorer in men’s international football could help his country qualify for the tournament with two games to spare, theoretically, provided Serbia slips up against both Luxembourg and then Austria.

But back in 2015 he stormed out of an interview and said ‘I don’t give a f*** about Qatar’ when asked about the tournament.

Then at Real Madrid, the Portugal captain was trying to promote a new range of headphones he had launched during a pre-season tour of the US.

Ronaldo is set to face Qatar in an international friendly and could lead his side at the World Cup in 2022
 

However, he found himself weighed down by questions about the corruption scandal at FIFA, particularly the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

In 2020, the United States Department of Justice concluded that representatives for Qatar had bribed FIFA officials to win votes, yet the tournament will proceed as planned.

At the time, it was merely speculation and conjecture and some of the biggest players in the world were being asked for their opinion, Ballon d’Or holder Ronaldo being one of them.

In an interview with CNN Espanol, the forward insisted he and his teammates preferred to talk about material objects as opposed to hard-hitting matters like corruption scandals.

The forward, who was at Real Madrid at the time, was trying to promote a new brand of headphones

Ronaldo replied: “Do you want me to be honest? It doesn’t worry me at all. I do my profession, my job, I give me all for my club … the rest doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care what happens on the outside.”

Ronaldo was then asked what subjects are on the agenda in the changing room: “About music, about women, about fashion, about shoes, about suitcases/bags, about jewelry, about haircuts … any more you want me to list?”

Andres Oppenheimer was direct his line of questioning to the former Juventus forward, who then proceeded to angrily walk out of the interview

“I can’t speak like that,” he says. “This is bulls***. Speaking of FIFA, I don’t care about FIFA. And Qatar … I don’t give a f***. What do you want me to do? Speak about a product, he speaks about FIFA … come on.”