Cristiano Ronaldo handed Portugal a 2-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland during their 2022 World Cup Qualifying game on Wednesday night. His two goals pushed the 36-year-old legend’s goal tally for Portugal to 111, meaning that Ronaldo has broken the previous international goalscoring record held by Iran’s Ali Daei.
Ronaldo’s evening got off to a rocky start, as the Portugal captain saw his penalty saved by Gavin Bazunu in the 15th minute after Bruno Fernandes was brought down in the box by Jeff Hendrick. On the stroke of halftime, things went from bad to worse for Portugal as the Republic of Ireland broke the deadlock with a John Egan header.
Just as it looked as if Portugal would fail to break down the resolute Irish defence, Ronaldo put his team on the scoresheet with a towering header in the 89th minute. Then, in true dramatic fashion, the forward rocketed home yet another header to win the match for Portugal in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
In what has been a record-breaking summer, Ronaldo also scored 5 goals at Euro 2020 to become the tournament’s all-time leading scorer.
As a result of the victory, Portugal now sit at the top of Group A with 10 points after four games.
