Cristiano Ronaldo hints at his long-term plans as his private conversation with Portugal boss Roberto Martinez comes to light

Portugal national team coach Roberto Martinez has revealed a conversation he had with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo over his future with the national side. The Belgian suggested that the Al-Nassr attacker was keen on reaching 250 caps.

In an interview with former Arsenal winger Freddie Ljungberg after being appointed earlier this year, Martinez said:

"He [Ronaldo] was very close to reaching 200 caps, something nobody has ever done before.

"I said [to Ronaldo] is 200 caps something that interests you or not? He said, '250 interests me'."

The 38-year-old reached the mark of 200 caps in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Liechtenstein. He became the first player to reach that mark and is the highest-capped player at the international level, beating the record of 196 held by Kuwait's Bader Al-Mutawa.

Should he wish to play till making 250 appearances, it is likely that he will have to feature in the 2026 World Cup.

Portugal completed a perfect run through their Euro qualification group, winning 10 games out of 10. Ronaldo finished with the second-most goals in the tournament, scoring 10 behind 14 from Belgium's Romelu Lukaku.

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Cristiano Ronaldo once predicted rise of Arsenal star

The Al-Nassr star earmarked Martin Odegaard as a future star.

Cristiano Ronaldo made a prediction about Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard in 2015 when the Norwegian was with Real Madrid. He included him alongside four other players in a list of players and tipped them to be future stars.

Speaking to BT Sport in 2015, he said:

"You see many players with potential. I will mention Martin Odegaard of Madrid for example, at 16 he's still young but you can see he's a very good player."

When quizzed about what had impressed him about Odegaard, Ronaldo said: "He's a great player, I think he's a young boy, he can still grow. He has a good future ahead. We must give him time to learn, to take his best decisions. But I see a lot of potential in the player, he has got a good left foot."

Odegaard joined Real Madrid from Norwegian side Stromsgodset in 2015. He initially played with the reserve side before making his senior debut in November 2015, coming off the bench to replace Ronaldo.

After multiple loan spells, he eventually joined Arsenal on loan for the second half of the 2020-21 season. The move was made permanent in the following summer for a fee of €35 million.