From clapping to smiling to making a song, Cristiano Ronaldo took a couple of moments to have fun along with his Portugal teammates after qualifying for what could be his record-tying 5th Global Cup.
The perfect scorer in males’s global football hasn’t ever received the game’s greatest prize, however he’s going to get every other likelihood this 12 months in Qatar.
“The years cross by way of, however the targets at all times stay the similar,” Ronaldo wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.
4 different gamers have made it to 5 Global Cups — Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from 1998-2014, Mexico defender Rafael Márquez from 2002-18, Germany midfielder Lothar Matthaeus from 1982-98 and Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal from 1950-66. Buffon used to be within the Italy squad in 1998 however didn’t play within the event.
Others with an opportunity to sign up for Ronaldo by way of taking part in in Qatar are Argentine nice Lionel Messi, Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and México midfielder Andrés Guardado, who even have been to 4 Global Cups. Spain defender Sergio Ramos additionally took phase in 4 Global Cups, however he hasn’t been known as up by way of trainer Luis Enrique not too long ago.
Ronaldo will probably be taking part in in his tenth instantly primary event in a streak that began on the 2004 Ecu Championship and comprises 4 Global Cups and 4 different Ecu tournaments, a contest he helped Portugal win in 2016.
Ronaldo is the one participant to have scored at least one time in 9 best tournaments in a row, and can be capable to prolong a lot of his global data in Qatar, together with his 115-goal mark with the nationwide staff. He is also the lively Portugal participant with probably the most Global Cup targets with seven, two shy of Eusebio’s 9.
In 17 Global Cup video games, Ronaldo has six wins, six losses and 5 attracts. He has two assists in the ones fits, and that’s how he helped his staff win on Tuesday, putting in place the hole target by way of Bruno Fernandes within the first part on the Estádio do Dragão in Porto. Fernandes added the second one after halftime.
“Purpose completed,” Ronaldo stated after the fit. “We made it to the Global Cup in Qatar. We’re the place we should be.”
It is going to be the 6th instantly Global Cup look for Portugal, whose perfect marketing campaign used to be a third-place end in 1966 and a fourth-place run in 2006 in Ronaldo’s first try. Portugal used to be eradicated within the spherical of 16 in 2010 and 2018, and didn’t make it previous the crowd level in 2014.
Ronaldo’s Instagram submit on Tuesday got here with a photograph of himself and his long-time buddy Pepe, the 39-year-old veteran defender who can even most likely be taking part in in his ultimate Global Cup.
Ronaldo could be 41 by the point the 2026 Global Cup comes round, and he had stated sooner than Tuesday’s fit he used to be starting to be stricken by way of the repeated questions about how lengthy he deliberate to stay taking part in.
The ones questions shall be long gone for now, as a result of we all know there will probably be a minimum of another Global Cup for Ronaldo.