Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest international goalscorer in history.
And he did it in typically sensational fashion with two late goals in a dramatic World Cup qualifying win over the Republic of Ireland in September 2021, which took him to 111 goals for his country.
He has since netted another seven for his country.
Ronaldo went into the match level with Ali Daei, who scored 109 goals in 149 appearances for Iran, but fluffed his lines early on.
Portugal were awarded a penalty in the tenth minute of the match but Ronaldo’s resulting spot-kick was saved by Gavin Bazunu.
The Irish took the lead just before half time and were set for a shock win until Ronaldo nodded home in the 89th minute with a smart header.
That saw him break Daei’s record but hell-bent on getting his country the three points, Ronaldo kept going and got his second and 111th strike overall with another brilliant header in the sixth minute of stoppage-time.
Top international goal scorers
- Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal: 118 goals in 192 caps
- Ali Daei, Iran: 109 caps in 148 caps
- Lionel Messi, Argentina: 92 goals in 166 caps
- Mokhtar Dahari , Malaysia: 89 goals in 142 caps
- Ferenc Puskas, Hungary: 84 goals in 85 caps
- Sunil Chhetri, India: 80 goals in 125 caps
- Ali Mabkhout, United Arab Emirates: 79 goals in 103 caps
- Godfrey Chitalu, Zambia: 79 goals in 111 caps
- Hussein Saeed, Iraq: 78 goals in 137 caps
- Pele, Brazil: 77 goals in 92 caps
Since that momentous occasion, the star put three against Luxembourg to score his tenth hat-trick for Portugal and then scored twice against Switzerland.
Ronaldo is close to turning 38 but started Portugal’s World Cup campaign by netting his 118th international goal against Ghana.
In the process, he became the only player to score in five separate World Cup campaigns.
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News Summary:
- Cristiano Ronaldo the top international scorer of all-time as he overtakes Ali Daei’s record
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