2023-10-14 11:59:47
How far will it stop? The question probably does not yet have an answer. This October 13, Cristiano Ronaldo honored his 202nd selection with Portugal winning (3-2) over Slovakia. He is the only player in history to have exceeded 200 caps with his national team.
The Portuguese are like the French, already qualified for Euro 2024 and the Lusitanian star will thus participate in his 6th European Championship, another record. He played the first at home in Portugal in 2004 at the age of 19. He will be 39 next summer in Germany. Against the Slovaks, “CR7” scored a double and scored its 124th and 125th goals in the selections. He also holds the world record for the number of goals scored in the selection, far ahead of the Iranian Ali Daei, 109 goals in 148 selections. With Argentina, Lionel Messi has 104 goals in 177 caps.
In total in his career, clubs and selection, Ronaldo has scored 857 goals. And now we talk to him about the mythical bar of 1000 goals, the one which made Pelé even more of a legend at the end of the 1960s. “The president of Porto challenged me to reach 1000 goals, he admitted Friday evening after the match against Slovakia. I think it will be difficult but like I said, we will see how I am mentally, physically, my motivation, if my legs treat me as well as I treat them. It’s the small steps that motivate me. »
Ronaldo scored these 857 goals while playing 1,185 matches: 983 club matches and 202 with Portugal. He has therefore scored on average, for 20 years, 1.3 goals per match. To put it simply, he basically scores two goals every three games. On this basis, he still needs to play around fifty matches to reach 900 goals.
He has twenty-five left to play this season in the Saudi championship with his club Al-Nassr and a good fifteen with the selection (qualification, preparation, etc.) if the Portuguese reach the goal of the Euro. “To get to 1000, I must first get to 900,” continues the multiple golden ball. There is still a long way to go but I believe I will get there. Now it’s step by step. Goals should be set in the short term and more in the long term. I look forward to 900 goals with confidence but to get to 1000 goals, there is still a long way to go but everything is possible. »
There, in fact, it seems more complicated. He still has to play more than 200 matches while staying within his goals scored average to reach this staggering total. At around fifty meetings per year, he will last at least 4 years.
“Some things that have happened in my personal and professional life force me to think in the short term. I don’t want to think “oh! I’m going to play until I’m 41 or 42.” I don’t have that kind of goal. It’s about enjoying the present moment. I feel good, my body is responding to what I have given it over the last few years. I am happy in my club and in the national team. Things are going well. I scored a lot of goals. I wanted to break the national team goal records, the number of matches and they are broken. So I will continue to enjoy. I don’t follow the records, it’s the records that follow me. » And often, they join him.
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