In the Nations League match between Portugal and Croatia, Cristiano Ronaldo doubled Portugal’s lead with his 900th goal of his incredible career.
The Portugal star got emotional after scoring the goal against Croatia on Thursday night in the 34th minute at the Estadio do Benfica. He got on the end of a cross that Nuno Mendes whipped in and volleyed home from cross range to give his team a 2-0 lead. In celebration of his historic goal, he ran to the corner flag, went down on his knees, and grinned broadly as he finally made it onto Portugal’s scoreboard.
Many questioned whether Ronaldo should end his international career after he failed to score at Euro 2024, but the prominent player has since silenced his naysayers. He has now made history in football as the first player to score 900 career goals.
With his most recent goal, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner now has 131 goals for his nation, separating him from longtime rival Lionel Messi in the all-time goalscoring rankings. Ronaldo leads by a significant margin over Messi, who has 838 goals from 1069 games.
Despite playing for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, he has scored 51 goals in 49 games, demonstrating that he is still going strong at the club level.
Being Portugal’s all-time top goalscorer, Cristiano Ronaldo leads with ease, followed by Paulete, who scored 47 goals between 1997 and 2006. In addition, Ronaldo owns the record for the most appearances; his opening goal against Croatia marked his 213th Portugal cap. Joao Moutinho, a former Wolves midfielder who retired from international football in 2022, is lagging behind with 67 caps.
Speaking with Rio Ferdinand, a former teammate from Manchester United, on his YouTube channel, Ronaldo stated that he aspires to reach the 1,000 goal mark. According to the player, it is very important that he reaches 1,000 goals if he doesn’t have any injuries. He hopes to leave one of the best marks in football history with 900 goals and later challenge himself to attain 1000 goals.
The legendary Brazilian Pele is credited by FIFA with 1,281 goals, making him the all-time top scorer. However, it is now widely recognized that hundreds of those goals came in friendly matches.