Former England forward Gary Lineker has described Cristiano Ronaldo's fallout with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus as "sad" and has said that Ronaldo deserves an international farewell as "beautiful" as Lionel Messi's final Argentina game.
Earlier this week, Ronaldo said that he will remain available to represent Portugal should they call him up again but also claimed that Jesus had "broken his word" to him.
He also compared himself to Pelé and Diego Maradona when he said that Jesus was supposed to have made a series of pre-agreed comments in a news conference on Sept. 29 after the Al Nassr striker's walk-out.
Lineker, who scored 41 goals for England in 80 appearances, lamented the current tension between Ronaldo and his national team.
"He [Ronaldo] has done his kind-of apology," Lineker said. "I just hope they [the Portuguese Football Federation and Ronaldo] get their heads together, give him a really good farewell.
"I just think it's a bit sad because he's been so great. And ultimately, in five years or ten years time, no one will remember this. It won't matter. We'll just remember how great he was.
"But I think if you look at Messi's farewell, it was so beautiful and I think Cristiano deserves the same."
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Ronaldo appears to have left the door open to both a Portugal return and a real farewell, should he decide to retire from international football someday soon.
"I have heard a lot about farewell matches, that I deserve a dignified farewell and that the [FPF] wants to give me that opportunity," he said.
"I can promise all my fans, and especially all Portuguese people, that we will have one or more farewell matches. There will be time for that."
The Portuguese Football Federation president has said that the Ronaldo situation was a misunderstanding and Jesus has said that the door is open for the former Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United striker to return.