WORLD CUP 2022
Cristiano Ronaldo thanks Guinness World Records
After his recent brace for Portugal against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier a new record was set, and the global authority on such things made it official.
It had been coming for a while and finally, in the dying minutes of the 2022 World Cup qualifier against Ireland, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to overtake Iran's Ali Daei and set a new men's world record for international goals.
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With Portugal a goal down, scoring his 110th for his country in the 89th minute broke the record he shared, and then around seven minutes later he extended that with his 111th goal in 180 games, which also secured all three points. And the organisation that has been the global authority on record breaking achievements since 1955, Guinness World Records, didn't take long in making it official.
Record-breaker Ronaldo
The 36-year-old striker, who transferred from Juventus back to Manchester United on the final day of the summer transfer market, was quick to post his thanks.
"Thank you to the Guinness World Records. Always good to be recognized as a world record breaker. Let’s keep trying to set the numbers even higher!" he wrote on his rather popular Instagram account, along with the arm muscle emoji.
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 was expected to add to his goal tally as well as surpassing the 180 caps of Spain's Sergio Ramos, who has not been called up for La Roja. This would have seen another record for him, making him the most capped player with a European nation, but a shirtless celebration against Ireland means he is now suspended. Surely it's only a matter of time...