Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo gestures before shooting a penalty kick during the UEFA EURO 2020 Group F football match between Portugal and France at Puskas Arena in Budapest on June 23, 2021. (Photo by BERNADETT SZABO / POOL / AFP)
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo has had an extraordinary club and international career but none has come with a goal against France.
The 36-year old Juventus forward corrected that with 2 important goals against the world champions in a nerve-wracking final group game that sent his country to the knockout stage at the ongoing Euro 2020.
Interestingly, the final group F fixtures all ended in a draw with the same 2-2 scoreline and you can read more about BetBonanza to learn more about correct score prediction while enjoying the thrilling football performances.
More importantly, Germany was also able to avoid an early crash-out of the competition while Ronaldo equaled Ali Daei’s world records.
Ronaldo’s fifth goal of the group stage extended his record tally of Euro goals to 14 and levelled him with former Iranian striker Ali Daei who had 109 goals in 149 caps.
Ali Daei expectedly has paid tribute to the Portuguese skipper, writing on his Instagram page: “Congratulations to @cristiano who is now one goal away from breaking the men’s international goal scoring record. I am honoured that this remarkable achievement will belong to Ronaldo – great champion of football and caring humanist who inspires and impacts lives throughout the world.”
The France-Portugal game is the 178th international appearance for the former Real Madrid star and he made no mistake twice from the spot to put Portugal forward against France.
Ronaldo can as well break that same record in their Round of 16 knock-out game against in-form Belgium while making more history if Portugal is able to advance further.