Cristiano Ronaldo responded boldly after scoring a brace: "This past week felt like I was retired. I've been used to hitting back at criticism for 24 years."

In a crucial Group K second-round match that concluded on June 24 Beijing time, the title contenders Portugal swept Uzbekistan, a World Cup debutant from Asia, 5-0. And in this game, the 41-year-old Portuguese legend Ronaldo responded to external skepticism by netting twice.

After the match, he, who received the official Man of the Match award, stated confidently in an interview: "I am very delighted,This has been a difficult week, a dark week. It felt as if I had already retired, but I persevered, just as I always have.Because more than anything else, I believe in hard work. I have to admit, it was tough, but we are back."

Regarding why he kept shouting "I'm back" in front of the camera, Ronaldo said in a joking tone: "It's to make sure you don't forget. This week has indeed been very hard, with a lot of criticism, especially directed at me. But I have been playing football for 24 years and have long been able to withstand and respond to such criticism with my performances.Criticism often also contains opportunities for you to improve."

When talking about the free kick arrangement in the first half, Ronaldo said: "That free kick was originally supposed to be taken by me, but I told Nuno, 'We can trick the goalkeeper; he will definitely think I'm going to take it. You hit it hard, and this ball will go in.'"

"Other teammates also scored in this match, and that is exactly our goal. This game I was the Man of the Match, but next time it could be someone else. As long as we stay united, I believe this team can go very far."

With his brace in this match, Ronaldo ended an embarrassing run of 10 consecutive major international tournaments (World Cup + European Championship) without scoring. He also achieved the feat of scoring in six consecutive World Cups, making him the only player in football history to accomplish this.

Ronaldo's World Cup career goal tally has now reached 10, thereby surpassing legendary predecessor Eusébio to become Portugal's all-time top scorer in World Cup history.