Cristiano Ronaldo, always ready to break marks
Alejandro Panfil @AlePanfil
You may have noticed that 2020 is a year full of questions and with just a few answers. But if we talk about soccer, one of the countries that seems to have all the answers is Portugal. Its national team does not only have history with Eusébio in the sixties and Figo in the nineties and early two thousand. This squad also has an extraordinary present, because they are the current champions of the European Championship (its last edition took place in 2016 because this year’s has been postponed) and the UEFA Nations League (Portugal won in 2019 and it is taking place as we write). Evidently, Portugal has a very promising future.
Until the Euro 2016, portuguese fans felt that even with an amazing Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t enough to compete with the best teams in the world and win major tournaments. But after having won these remarkable trophies, Portugal did not just gain self-confidence; it also started building a very strong team with great players like Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), João Félix (Atlético de Madrid) and, of course, the modern hero and soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo, who keeps confirming that he’s still at the top of his game.
Cristiano, who was born in Funchal on February 5, 1985, at 35 years old is looking better than ever and shows his capacity to set the rules of the game and provide, at least, one decisive goal in every game he plays. Despite having left Sporting Clube de Portugal at an early stage of his career without leaving his mark with titles, he is loved by the club fans. He then became a winning card not only in Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus but, of course, his national team and has thus won the hearts of the Portuguese.
After missing the 4-1 against Croatia for the UEFA Nations League due to an unusual infection in his right foot, Cristiano travelled to Stockholm with two purposes in mind: win the three points against Sweden to ensure the first position in group 3 and also score his 100th goal with the Portugal national team. His chance came at minute 45 when he set the ball on the floor and shot an amazing free kick to beat Robin Olsen and set himself as the first European soccer player ever to reach 100 goals with the national team. He left “the office” having also scored the second goal for his team, the 101 of his personal archive, to win 2-0.
Cristiano is in the second place in the world top five ever, behind the Iranian Ali Dalei (109 goals) and ahead of the Hungarian Ferenc Puskas (84), the Japanese Kunishige Kamamoto (80) and the Zambian Godfrey Chitalu (79). CR7’s reached this amazing mark in 165 games where he has scored 47 goals at home, 39 away and 15 on neutral territory. These hundred and one goals—he’s got nine hat-tricks and has twice scored 4 goals in a game—are distributed in 66 games and they have helped win 54 games and tie 5. According to the UEFA website, his goals led him to be Top scorer in the UEFA European Championship, including qualifiers stage (40); Top scorer in UEFA European Championships finals (9 - tied with Michel Platini); Top scorer in European international competitions (78); Top scorer in Europe in World Cup qualifications (30). Moreover, he has scored in four final stages of the UEFA European Championship (4) and he scored the First goal in a UEFA Nations League Final Phase against Switzerland (semi-finals, 06/05/2019, Porto) and the first hat-trick.
“It is incredible what Cristiano Ronaldo continues to do in each game and now the next record is closer. He is 9 goals away from becoming the player with the most goals in a national team and because of the urge he has, I am certain that he will attempt at scoring them in the few games that Portugal has left before the end of 2020”, told DROB Pedro Ponte, soccer analyst who covered the Euro 2016 for Record newspaper. “There are no limits for him and I believe that next year's Euro Cup we will have 36-year-old Cristiano and in a lot better conditions than many 20-year-olds”, added the colleague from Lisbon.
We can count on Cristiano’s ambition and determination and can stake our lives on the great physical conditions in which CR7 will be playing the next months in order to become the world top scorer for national teams. He is a fantastic and skilled player who’s always ready to break another soccer mark. We’ll be watching closely to witness his next record. It seems it is just a matter of time.