Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 200th international cap by scoring the goal in Portugal’s victory against Iceland (1-0) on Tuesday in Reykjavik, which allows the Seleçao to maintain their lead at the top of the group for the qualifications for the Euros -2024.
Published on: 06/20/2023 – 23:46Modified on: 06/21/2023 – 09:24
Glorious return for Cristiano Ronaldo. Against Iceland, he scored the only goal of the match (1-0) in Reykjavik on Tuesday June 20, and allowed his Portuguese team to maintain their lead in qualifying for Euro-2024. Finding the place in the standard team that he had lost during the World Cup-2022, the five-time Golden Ball of 38 years increased his record of selections in the men’s national team and reached the symbolic bar of 200 caps.
Author of two doubles against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg at the end of March, the native of Madeira is also the world record holder for goals in selection. This total, he brought it to 123 on Tuesday, scoring at the very end of the game by closely resuming a service from Gonçalo Inacio (89th). His goal was confirmed after verification by the VAR.
Portugal in pole position of its group
With this fourth victory in as many games, the European champions retain the lead in Group J of qualifying for Euro-2024. They are still two points ahead of their runner-up, Slovakia, who won in Liechtenstein (1-0).
Arrived at the beginning of the year, the new coach of Portugal, the Spaniard Roberto Martinez, continues to chain the successes after the victories against Liechtenstein (4-0), Luxembourg (6-0) and Bosnia-Herzegovina ( 3-0).
The former Belgium coach has made some changes in the team, such as the use of a three-man central defense, without upsetting the squad and its hierarchies.
Above all, he reinforced the status of Cristiano Ronaldo despite his 38 years and his golden exile at the Saudi club Al-Nassr.
With AFP
