respectfully, Greece and Portugal are not the same when it comes to International standing. I’m confident in saying Greece will never win an International tournament as long as I live. I can’t say the same for Portugal.
the comment is an effort to boost his achievements with Portugal. It doesn’t matter though, because the Euros will never be a World Cup. No matter how much he dreams it was. Nation Leagues is the International equivalent of the Europa Conference League.
Portugal have never even made a world cup final. There’s got to disappointment there given some of the players they had. Especially if you fanboy this guy and think he’s the best or whatever.
Greece were never expected to do anything and pulled off the unthinkable. Very different.
Plenty of great players haven’t won a thing internationally. Portugal have always gotten out of the groups in tournaments, and at that point is there really that much difference between the two competitions? You still need some good fortune and timing and you only get to try win it every 4 years so most players only get a few attempts at it.
What’s the context of the quote? He was asked if he needs to win World Cup with Portugal and he said that.
Winning your country’s first two international trophies and helping establish them as one of the bigger nations in international competitions is a huge accomplishment.
I don’t think they’ve even made it to an international final before he came into the team.
Anyway, as countries Portugal and Greece are pretty similar. Around 10 million population, Portugal is around 90k km², Greece is around 130k km².
Not the smallest countries by any means but they’re certainly not one of the proper big ones like Spain, France, Germany, Ιtaly, etc.
I know he is washed now and not the same player but I would love it if he played at Hampden next month just so I can say I have seen him play in person 
The World Cup has been going for longer and there’s been fewer winners of the tournament than the Euros.
Portugal have always been in better standing than Greece. The Greece Euros’ win was completely unexpected while Portugal have always been there or there abouts prior to there win. I agree they weren’t of the stature of the countries you’ve listed, but nor is it a shock they were competing.
With some luck in Euro, you can have an easy route to the final, just like England recently had.
For WC, you have the mix with Brazil, Argentina and some South American/Latin/Africa dark horse in the mix. It is more difficult.
World Cups going for longer is more or less irrelevant to what I’m saying though. The FA Cup has been around longer than the Champions League but it doesn’t mean the FA Cup is automatically harder to win purely due to that.
Once you’re out of the group, it’s pretty similar overall and many great players won’t ever win either of them.
The reality is that you need a good team, some luck and a whole bunch of other variables to go your way. It’s why I never really care much for simply comparing trophies when it comes to individual players, and particularly when it comes to international tournaments.
They’re both cup competitions sure and the point you made about the nature of the competitions inherently being the similar is valid but what he said is just BS
Euros just isn’t what a World Cup is in terms of the the prestige and the field of competition being worldwide, Euros just isn’t the same spectacle, winning the World Cup is the pinnacle IMO
Also I bet he’d trade that Euros Medal for a World Cup one in a heartbeat. He’s not fooling anyone.
I’m not really agreeing with what he said, I’m sure most of us place more value on the World Cup generally and I’m sure, as you said, that he’d trade the Euros for a WC.
I just think technically speaking there’s not a huge difference, which is obviously different to how fans or players might perceive the competition itself.
End of the day, all of the GOAT stuff is going to be fraught with varying opinions on x or y and we will never reach anything near a consensus.
it’s been going for longer but why has there been fewer winners of the tournament? Has there ever been a Greece type triumph, someone outside the typical? I wouldn’t say so.
historically it’s been harder for an underdog to prevail.
Always subscribed to the principle that an individual footballer shouldn’t be judged for a team achievement.
I held that view when Ronaldo fanboys talked about how Messi didn’t win any international tournaments.
And I shall hold that view for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo not winning World cup doesn’t do anything to his standing as an individual player.
You don’t have to judge the player based on the achievements of the nation but you absolutely should judge the player based on how he performs at the tournament.
CR7 wasn’t even good at the Euros that Portugal won. And I don’t think he’s ever had a particularly good World Cup.
Yeah pissed me off how people were elevating him for such a poor tournament. Apart from one match (where he made a decisive impact to be fair), he was invisible the whole tournament.
France really pissed me off in that final.
Small sample size. There’s been like 20 WCs and a few less Euros, easy enough for stats to swing because of that.
There was also Denmark who also won the Euros as underdogs without qualifying for them.
The WC winners are usually from Europe or South America, often depending on where it’s held and nearly always a big footballing nation.
Haven’t read much of the above so forgive me if I’m misunderstanding anyone but WC is definitely the more difficult trophy to win.
Italy haven’t even qualified for the last two World Cups yet somehow were crowned European champions in between that.
Couldn’t make it out the 2014 group yet absolutely killed the 2012 tournament and even gave a good account for themselves in the 2016 tournament despite the horrible 2014 WC campaign.
This reminds me of the debate Mbappe sparked when he said Euros is more difficult to win than the World Cup. 
Personally I wasn’t even arguing about that.
I do think winning the Euros is still pretty big though, especially as not one of the big European nations like Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
World Cup is obv bigger and better but there’s not that much difference in the competition these days. It’s practically a euros plus Brazil/Argentina and it really depends how good those two turn up (both been shit for years until Qatar).
No doubt you’d take a WC win over a euros though and anyone suggesting otherwise is lying, even Ronaldo.
Agree The world cup is better and has more prestige but its really only won by the same small group of European nations with Brazil and Argentina winning it occasionally. See the 20 yr gap between Brazil 2002 and Argentina 2022