Ronaldo Scores 100th International Goal

Portuguese football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, achieved another milestone in his already glittering career as he scored his 100th international goal for Portugal following their 2-0 win against Sweden in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday. 

Juventus’s number 7 missed out in Portugal’s game against Croatia due to injury but was deemed fit to play against the Swedes. Sweden went down to ten men following Gustav Svensson’s second booking in the game, which resulted in a Portugal free-kick. Ronaldo blasted the free-kick towards the top corner, becoming the second player and the first European player to score a century of international goals. He also scored a second in the 72nd minute, curling his shot from the edge of the penalty box. 

Talking after the game, Ronaldo was pleased that he reached a milestone that is hard to achieve in men’s international football and is not obsessed over breaking records believing that they come naturally.

Ronaldo made his first international cap in August 2003 against Kazakhstan, scoring his first international goal against Greece in the group stages of Euro 2004, which Portgual hosted and played in the final but lost to Greece. He has become Portugal’s all-time appearance maker with 165 caps and a leading goal scorer with 101. 

Pauleta was Portugal’s last top goal scorer with 47 goals while Luis Figo had the most caps with 127. He has also brought success for his country, winning the European Championship in 2016, Portugal’s first-ever international title. He is now 10 goals away from breaking the record of scoring the most international goals in Men’s football which is held by Iran’s Ali Daei with 109 goals.