CRISTIANO RONALDO moved to within six goals of his international century when he scored in a 3-0 win over Luxembourg on Friday which kept the defending champions on course for the Euro 2020 finals.
The veteran star hit his 94th goal for the Portuguese and took his overall career tally to 699 when he found the target in the second half after Bernardo Silva had opened the scoring in the first period.
The three points kept Portugal in second place in Group B, five points behind Ukraine who defeated Lithuania 2-0.
Portugal went ahead at the Estadio Jose Alvalade home of Sporting Lisbon in the 16th minute.
Barcelona defender Nelson Semedo’s effort was only parried by Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris and Manchester City midfielder Silva was on hand to sweep in the opener.
It was a second goal in three internationals for Silva who arrived in Portugal under a cloud having been charged with misconduct by the English Football Association over a controversial social media post comparing City teammate Benjamin Mendy with a black cartoon character.
At the other end, it wasn’t until the 35th minute that Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio was called into action for the first time to deny Vincent Thill, whose brother Olivier was also in the Luxembourg starting line-up.
Ronaldo had his first real chance of the second half but his ambitious overhead kick was easily dealt with by Moris.
However, he made no mistake in the 65th minute when he took his international tally to 94 as he stole the ball off Maxime Chanot before lobbing it over Moris.
The 34-year-old is now just 15 goals behind the all-time international record of 109 held by former Iran striker Ali Daei.
There was time for Portugal to add a third in the dying moments through Goncalo Guedes.
Andy Dunne and Murray Kinsella join Gavan Casey to preview Ireland-Samoa, and discuss the utter farce of the World Cup falling foul of Typhoon Hagibis.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
699 in total I believe. INCREDIBLE. No.1 in the World now. Messi slippn back in his 30s.
@McSalmon: Messi is 32 this season, he already has 5 goals is 8 games. Last season he scored 51 goals in 49 matches and had 19 assists. Stop talking nonsense, you are embarrassing yourself…..
@Devilsavocado: you’re missing my point AGAIN!
@Devilsavocado: btw his stats are in decline and CR7 had bagged 3CLs 1 Euro and 1 Nations League and 2 League titles since Messi last won a CL and without Xavi and Iniesta ain’t looking so good. Maradona always better in his prime too. CR7 GOAT.
@McSalmon: no Iniesta or Xavi last season and still won the ballon dor. Over 50 goals scored. Explain that Ronaldo is top class but sorry Messi is “different” class. Suck it up
@Ado Smith: Modric won that
@Ado Smith: He didn’t win the Balon D’Or last year. And hasn’t for 5 years.
As the great Eammon Dunphy once said, ‘that lad Ronaldo is only a cod, a spoofer!’
@Hidden Connemara: dunphy is the ultimate spoofer. He was spouting that when R7 was banging in 42 goals a season for ManU from the wing.
@Hidden Connemara: that quote is emblazoned on the side of a pub in Dublin so it will never be forgotten
@Dominic Gallagher: which one…been across the pond a few years.
GOAT !!!!
Ronaldo is without doubt the greatest goal scorer we have ever seen! His stats will tell us that.
It can be said about all truly great players (Pele, Maradonna, Cryuff, Beckenbauer, Best, Maldini, the other Ronaldo etc etc) that they are all different in their own way. I suppose that’s part of what makes them truly great!
But imo if there were two games on side by side with both Ronaldo & Messi playing in their prime and I was given the choice to pick one to sit and watch I would choose to watch Messi every time.
The thing I love most about these arguments is that there actually is an argument to have. So I will continue to bask in the wonder of both of these amazing truly great players
You don’t necessarily need to be flashy to be great
@Eoin Murphy: one can do both btw. e.g: Usain Bolt, Ayrton Senna, Micheal Jordan.
CR7 will go down as the GOAT. His stats are not human.
@Stanley Baggins: agreed his stats are inhumane