Cristiano Ronaldo hits new Portugal goal-scoring record milestone

In Friday’s 3-2 victory over Slovakia, Cristiano Ronaldo demonstrated that he has not lost any of his scoring instinct. The Portugal star showed yet again that it doesn’t matter where he plays - whether in Europe, the United States or Arabia, he will never be too far away from finding the back of the net. CR7 was on target twice for Portugal this weekend, and extended his record of 125 international goals - a figure that no one else has ever achieved.

Messi in pursuit

With the two goals against Slovakia, Cristiano extends his advantage over his closest pursuers, at least those who are still active - but mainly with Leo Messi, who has scored 104 goals for Argentina. India’s Sunil Chhetri (93 goals); Lewandowski (81 goals); the Emirati Ali Mabkhout (80); Lukaku (78 goals) and Neymar (77) complete the players at the top part of the ranking who remain active with their respective national teams.

At 38 years old, Cristiano dispelled doubts about his short-term future at the end of the match in Do Dragao: “I’m enjoying the moment, which is good, I feel good, my body is responding to what I have given it in recent years. I am happy both in the national team and in the club. I have scored many goals and I feel good physically”.

It seems that Cristiano has enough energy for a while. “On a personal level I am very happy with what I have done. Now we have to continue, we have a few more games and we have to perfect the machine. The team has been very good and with different systems”, he said - words that show that Roberto Martínez’s arrival as coach of the Seleçao has breathed fresh air into a very strong generation of Portuguese players.

Cristiano is the best example of this, since he looks rejuvenated with Portugal. A very different image from the one he left at last year’s Qatar World Cup after the team were eliminated by Morocco. The shadow of his retirement crossed the football world, but now no one thinks about it.

If everything goes the right way, CR7 will be in Germany among those chosen by Roberto Martínez to play at Euro 2024. It will be his sixth appearance at the tournament - 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021. An historic milestone.

Cristiano Ronaldo even has other, very ambitious short-term goals. With 857 career goals in the bag (the total with clubs and the national team) the aim is to reach 900. His voracity has no limits and as long as his physique respects his love affair with goals will continue...