Ronaldo breaks international scoring record

Wednesday 01 September 2021 22:14

Cristiano Ronaldo carved out yet another piece of football history on Wednesday night.

The 36-year-old has been stealing the headlines all week after his amazing transfer to Manchester United, yet it was in a Portugal shirt where he performed his latest miracle.

Fernando Santos's side were heading towards their first home World Cup qualifying defeat in 13 years when trailing 1-0 to the Republic of Ireland in Faro with two minutes of normal time remaining, only for Cristiano to head home twice and dramatically clinch all three points.

The equaliser was the forward's 110th goal for his country, which is a new world record for men's international football.

Cristiano had been level with Iran's Ali Daei on 109 goals prior to the game and spurned the opportunity to move beyond the former Bayern Munich striker early on, as he saw his spot-kick - won for a foul on Bruno Fernandes - saved by Portsmouth stopper Gavin Bazunu.

John Egan rose highest to nod home a corner and put an impressive Ireland ahead just before half-time and for a long period that looked to be the game-settler, with Portugal largely uninspired against the dogged visitors' defence.

Yet Goncalo Guedes found Ronaldo free in the box to level on 89 minutes and, if setting a new scoring landmark wasn't enough, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner found the exact same corner with virtually the last touch of the game to break the hearts of Stephen Kenny's men.

Clearly pumped, he tore his shirt off and raced off in celebration, earning him a yellow card which will now see him miss next week's qualifier against Azerbaijan.

Ronaldo is a record-breaker!

“I’m very happy not only because I beat the record but for the special moments that we have,” he said after the final whistle.

“Two goals in the end of the game, it’s so tough, but I have to appreciate what the team did. We believed until the end and the supporters did. I’m so glad.”

Four other Reds were involved in internationals on Tuesday.

Raphael Varane, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial featured in France's 1-1 qualifying draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Dylan Levitt played for Wales  in a friendly as they drew 0-0 in Finland.

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