In the 89th minute, Portugal’s captain scored against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier. He was ahead of Ali Daei, an Iranian striker. Minutes later, he added another header to give Portugal a 2-1 win. He had an earlier penalty saved in the 15th minute.
Ronaldo, 36, made his return to Manchester United Tuesday, after leaving Juventus. He was playing in his 180th match for Portugal. In 2003, the forward made his national debut and lost 2-1 to Greece in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship.
Ronaldo and Daei are the only men to have scored more than 100 goals for their country. They both played for German clubs Bayern Munich, Hertha Berlin and scored 109 goals in 149 matches for Iran between 1993 and 2006.
Christine Sinclair, 38 years old from Canada, is the most prolific international soccer scorer. She scored her 187th goal at Tokyo Olympics, where she was awarded gold.
Ronaldo, who won the only Portuguese title at Euro 2016, was the top scorer at this years European Championship. He scored five goals in four games and his team lost their title defense in round 16.
Ronaldo became the first to score in five editions of the continental tournament. This makes him the 11th player to do so, surpassing Michel Platini’s record nine goals at Euros.
According to UEFA, Ronaldo is the Champions League’s top scorer with 134 goals. That’s 14 more than Lionel Messi.
