Cristiano Ronaldo did what he does best as he smashed another record when he headed home Portugal’s goal in their victory over Morocco. He is now the highest-scoring European international with 85 goals in 152 games for Portugal.
With that goal, he went past Hungarian legend, Ferenc Puskas, who held the record previously with 84 goals. Ronaldo had a stunning start to the World Cup, scoring a sensational hat-trick against possibly the world’s best keeper in David De Gea.
That earned Portugal a 3-3 draw with the 2010 champions and propelled him to the top of the goal-scoring charts of the World Cup. However, his former Real Madrid teammate, Denis Cheryshev pulled level with him when he scored for Russia in their 3-1 win over Egypt.
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Ronaldo had to respond and respond he did, scoring as early as the fourth minute. Portugal earned a corner and it was played short to Joao Moutinho, who floated in a brilliant looping cross. Ronaldo pulled away from his marker and dived low to head home and reclaim top spot.
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In his three previous World Cup appearances in 2006, 2010 and 2014, Ronaldo had underwhelmed, scoring only one goal in each tournament. But he has turned back the pages with his positional and instinctive play so far in the World Cup, surpassing his combined tally in just two games.
During the course of the match, Ronaldo equaled another impressive stat for his country. He became the first Portuguese player to score with his right foot, left foot and his head at the same World Cup since Jose Torres had done so back in 1966.
2 – Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first Portugal player since José Torres in 1966 to score a goal with his right foot, left foot and head in a single World Cup tournament. Collection. #POR #MAR #PORMAR #Ronaldo #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/liZrUSyXmq
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 20, 2018
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Portugal had won the last international tournament they competed in, the Euro 2016 with their captain playing a crucial role in their road to the final though he was injured there. In this campaign too, he has started well and Portugal will be hoping for a similar result.