WORLD CUP 2022
Cristiano Ronaldo: leading international goalscorer
As well as securing a 2-1 victory for Portugal over Ireland in the dying minutes, his two headers took him to his latest record-breaking milestone.
Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Iran's Ali Daei and set a new world record for international goals by scoring his 110th and 111th goals in 180 games for Portugal to turn the tide against Ireland (2-1) on Wednesday in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
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Ronaldo makes more history
The 36-year-old striker, who transferred from Juventus back to Manchester United on the final day of the summer transfer market, scored twice, both with headers, to hand his nation victory at the death. His first came in the 89th minute to draw level with Ireland before securing the win six minutes into added time.
After the game Ronaldo spoke humbly: "So happy, for the special moments that we have."
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who missed the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot earlier in the game, shared the record with Ali Daei, who scored 109 goals in 149 games between 1992 and 2006.
“Congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo who is now one goal away from breaking the men's International goal scoring record. A great champion of football and caring humanist who inspires and impacts lives throughout the world - vamos,” said the Iranian when the Portugal man levelled with him.
Goal records keep falling
Cristiano Ronaldo is already the top scorer in the history of the Champions League (134) and the European Championships (14), as well as leaving Spain as Real Madrid’s number one with 450 goals.
The man from Madeira, who made his debut for the Seleçao in August 2003, scored his first international goal against Greece in the opening game of Euro 2004 in Portugal.
Before tonight he had never scored against Ireland, and they have now become the 44th national team to have had to pick the ball out of the net after his goal. Ronaldo has twice scored four and has had seven hat-tricks during his international career.
With Portugal facing Qatar in a friendly on Saturday and Azerbaijan in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, Ronaldo will now have the opportunity to surpass the 180 caps of Spain's Sergio Ramos, who has not been called up to La Roja. This would see another record for him, making him the most capped player with a European nation.