Ronaldo nets 121st, 122nd goals as Portugal routs Luxembourg
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, center, in action during the Euro 2024 group J qualifying soccer match between Luxembourg and Portugal at the Stade de Luxembourg in Luxembourg, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Credit: AP/Olivier Matthys
LUXEMBOURG — Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to lead a 6-0 rout of Luxembourg in European Championship qualifying as the Portugal star added to his records for international goals and appearances on Sunday.
The double from Ronaldo, the all-time scoring leader in men’s soccer, took his career tally for Portugal to 122 goals in the 198th game for his country.
The 38-year-old Ronaldo opened the scoring and netted his team's fourth goal just after the half-hour mark as the 2016 champions easily beat the outplayed hosts.
João Félix, Bernardo Silva, and substitutes Otavio and Rafael Leão added goals for Portugal.
The comfortable win comes three days after Ronaldo became the most-capped player in men’s international soccer when he scored twice in his 197th appearance to help beat Liechtenstein 4-0 in the debut of coach Roberto Martínez.
Ronaldo’s place as Portugal’s unquestioned leader has been restored under the Spanish coach, who joined Portugal after finishing his long stint in charge of Belgium following the World Cup.
Ronaldo hit the low point of his spectacular career in Qatar when former coach Fernando Santos benched him for Portugal’s knockout games, including a quarterfinals loss to Morocco. His falling out with Santos came amid his break with Manchester United, before he made his surprising move to the Saudi Arabian league.
Teammates celebrate after Portugal's Joao Felix scored their sides second goal during the Euro 2024 group J qualifying soccer match between Luxembourg and Portugal at the Stade de Luxembourg in Luxembourg, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Credit: AP/Olivier Matthys
He has now scored braces in back-to-back starts, albeit against European minnows.
Portugal leads Group J with six points. Slovakia is next with four points after its 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has three.
Iceland also has three points after it crushed Liechtenstein 7-0. Aaron Gunnarsson scored three times for Iceland.
The top two finishers of the group advance to the tournament to be played in Germany next year.
