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Cristiano Ronaldo reached the long-awaited 900th goal.
Portugal won 2-1 in the first Group A match of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Nations League A against Croatia in Lisbon, Portugal, on the morning of the 6th (Korea time). The star of the day was Ronaldo again. Ronaldo started as a front-line one-top striker and scored the winning goal in the 34th minute of the first half. Ronaldo scored 131 goals in his 213rd A-match. Of course, he broke the record of most A-match appearances and most goals ever.
Most of all, Ronaldo's 900th goal in the official match was the special scoring of the day. Ronaldo finished with a right-footed shot in the 34th minute of the first half, rushing a cross from Nunu Mendes from the left side to the door. Ronaldo recently joined UR, his YouTube channel.CRISTIANO announced the goal of '1000 goals' through talks with Rio Ferdinand. When asked by Ferdinand how long he would play, Ronaldo replied "41? I don't know. If there is no injury, the goal is sufficiently possible." Then "The best record I could have in football was to achieve 900 goals. After that, my challenge will be 1,000 goals."The only difference is that every goal I scored is on video. So I can prove that this is real."
It was a remark aimed squarely at Pelé. Pele's scoring record is recognized as 757 goals. On the other hand, Pele also claimed that his score exceeded 1,000 goals, referring to his score in a friendly match for Santos. FIFA also recognizes Pele's score record of 1,281 goals. Ferdinand asked "Are you talking about Di Stefano, Pele, Euzebio right now?" and Ronaldo "I respect them all. My score is real. If you want more scoring records, you can also take advantage of the video you scored in training" he noted.
Ronaldo scored his 900th goal, his first goal of 1,000. Ronaldo became the first player to reach the 900th goal mark, ahead of Lionel Messi, as well as the records of Pelé (757 goals), Eusebou (733 goals), and Gerd Müller (724 goals). Ronaldo was also encouraged by his 900th goal, but instead of his usual trademark 'Wooh Ceremony', he hugged his face and lay face down on the field. After shedding tears as if he was thrilled, he laughed and shared his joy with his colleagues. Afterwards, he cheered with his arms open to the crowd and raised his arms high to induce cheers from home fans.
Ronaldo scored 131 goals for the club, five for Sporting Lisbon, 145 for Manchester United, 450 for Real Madrid, 101 for Juventus and 68 for Al Nasr, starting with his debut goal against Moreyrens in October 2002. Although Ronaldo has been so sluggish that he has not scored a single goal in major tournaments, especially in the World Cup tournament, it is a truly remarkable scoring record. Ronaldo said on his YouTube channel "Some people say I didn't score a goal in the last Euros. What's the problem. I scored 130 goals in the A-match. I scored the most points in the A-match."
On this day, it was especially meaningful that Pepe's retirement ceremony was held. Pepe has worked with Ronaldo for Real Madrid and the national team for a long time. Pepe has dedicated 17 years to the Portuguese national team alone. He led Portugal to victory in Euro 2016 and also led the Nations League in the 2018-2019 season. At Euro 2024, Pepe, who played at the age of 41 years and 113 days, announced his retirement after being eliminated by France in the quarterfinals. Ronaldo responded with a milestone on the day his best friend left the ground.
Now Ronaldo is really going for his 1000th goal, which is an unanswered goal. In reality, it is not easy. You have to score as many as 100 goals. Coldly, Ronaldo's skills are going downhill. Of course, Saudi Arabia is showing off its unchanging scoring ability. So far in 2024, he has scored a phenomenal 26 goals in 26 games for Al Nasr and the national team. However, I'm not strange no matter when I break it. No matter how well Ronaldo manages his body, he cannot score 50 goals in a season like he did in his heyday. Ronaldo was also excluded from the 30 Ballon d'Or candidates announced recently by France Football. Messi was excluded, marking the end of the Ronaldo era. It is the first time in 21 years that neither Ronaldo nor Messi has been included in the Ballon d'Or candidate since 2003.
However, he still maintains his skills to the point where he will be the main player of the Portuguese national team, so he doesn't know the situation. Ronaldo has changed the question mark into an exclamation mark several times so far.
Ronaldo's record so far alone deserves to rank as the best player of all time. Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or five times. It is second to Messi (8th, Inter Miami). The FIFA Player of the Year award was also received five times and the UEFA Player of the Year award was also received three times. On top of that, he stepped on the 900th goal. Ronaldo recently transformed into a YouTuber, setting a record of more than 1 million subscribers in history. His subscribers have already exceeded 50 million.
Portugal, meanwhile, have a new win over tough Croatia. Portugal went ahead with Diogo Dalot's first goal in the seventh minute of the first half. Dalot, who received a pass from Bruno Fernandes, scored with a left footed shot. Portugal, which later widened the gap with Ronaldo's additional goal, faced a crisis with Dalot scoring an own goal in the 41st minute, but overcame the second half well and secured a pleasant victory.
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
