Almancil: Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in four minutes against the Republic of Ireland to surpass Iran’s Ali Daei for the most international goals in history on Thursday. Trailing by a first-half goal in a World Cup Qualifier, the Portuguese scored found the back of the net in 89th and 90+6 minutes to etch his name into the history books.
However, the scoreline could have been different had Ronaldo, who recently made an Old Trafford return after 12 years, not missed a penalty in the first half but eventually rose up to the occasion in the final minutes of the game.
Daei scored 109 goals in 149 matches, whereas Ronaldo has 111 in 180 matches and counting. The Iranian Daei achieved the feat between 1993-2006.
💥 He's done it!
🇵🇹 @Cristiano (110)
🇮🇷 Ali Daei (109)🔥 A phenomenal run of 49 goals in his last 47 Portugal appearances makes the monster from Madeira the outright leading scorer in men's international history. Take a bow, legend 🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/WFO7XbuKr8
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) September 1, 2021
Ronaldo also holds the record for most Champions League goals (134), most goals in a Champions League season by an individual (17) and most goals in European Championships including qualifying matches (23).
On the other hand, France, the Netherlands and the 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia, all settled for a draw. Edin Dzeko put Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead before Antoine Griezmann came to the rescue for the defending World Cup champions, who were down to 10 men for the majority of the second half.
Elsewhere Norway held the Netherlands to a 1-1 draw. Erling Haaland put Norway in the lead with his 20th-minute strike but Davy Klaasen salvaged a point for the Dutch. Denmark also won 2-0 against Scotland with a goal each from Daniel Wass and Joakim Maehle while Russia held Croatia to a goalless draw.
