Cristiano Ronaldo's goal record: Portugal's star ties Ali Daei's for Men's International goalscoring

Cristiano Ronaldo came to this European Championship with great enthusiasm, the fifth he has played in his entire career and with which he became the first footballer to play that amount. This edition turns out to be very special for the Juventus forward since, in addition to reaching this mark, he also established himself as the top scorer in the history of the European Championship with 14 goals and the top European striker.

As if that were not enough, the Portuguese star just reached another record after scoring two goals against France on the last date of the group stage of the tournament. With 109 goals for the Portuguese national team, the 36-year-old footballer equaled Iranian Ali Daei as the top scorer in history at the national team level.

His numbers with the Portugal National Team

With this number of goals, Ronaldo climbs to first place and, still with a margin of time in his favor, could escape even more from his immediate pursuers to continue increasing his numbers. With 109 goals in 178 games, CR7 equaled former footballer Daei (with the same number at 149), who retired in 2006 (he was the captain of Iran at the World Cup that year). Behind and up to ninth place appear names of players who have already retired such as Ferenc Puskas (3rd with 84) or Pelé (7th with 77). Those who continue in the race, but still far from that figure, are the Indian Sunil Chhetri (74 goals in 117 games) and the Argentine Lionel Messi (73 goals in 145 games).

What does Ali Daei think about this?

“Records are made to be broken. Ronaldo really has the qualities to do it. I have a lot of respect for him. He is such a great player that there is no need to praise him", Daei declared to the Khabar Online agency in 2018, understanding that his reign on the list was coming to an end. In recent weeks, this race has fascinated the Iranian media.

Articles appeared in the sports press with each new goal by CR7 that brought him closer to the magical figure of 109, until it was finally surpassed. The Iranian established his record by scoring for 13 years with the shirt of the Iranian National Team, for example the five goals against Sri Lanka (7-0) in 1996 or four games signing four goals, one of which was against Guam in one of Most prolific duels in World Cup qualification history: 17-0 in 2000. With his goals, longevity and aura, Daei (52) is a living legend in Iran.

Although he is surely proud of achieving this number of goals, Ronaldo knows that there is still a long way to go and he only thinks about revalidating the title he won with his team in the last edition of the European Championship: “The most beautiful record would be to win it twice in a row", He assured days ago when asked about the brands that he could overcome in this tournament.