All eyes were on Cristiano Ronaldo last night, and not for the first time, as he hunted down a century of international goals in Portugal’s UEFA Nations League match against Sweden.
Typically, he not only reached that milestone but passed it – and in some style. Ronaldo’s brilliant brace established him as just the second male player to break through the 100-goal mark as he continues to close in on the record held in men’s football by Iran legend Ali Daei (109).
FIFA President Gianni Infantino congratulated the Portuguese via SMS in English and Portuguese immediately after the game, and the great Pele passed on his congratulations via Twitter.
They were joined by numerous FIFA legends, including beloved former team-mates such as Marcelo and Rio Ferdinand, who sent video messages to laud this modern-day phenomenon.
Cristiano Ronaldo played twice against Team Melli, both in the FIFA World Cup. The first occasion was in Germany where Portugal won 2-0 thanks to a late penalty by Ronaldo and earlier goal by Deco. The next time Iran and Portugal met was in World Cup 2018 where Ronaldo was also present and as fate would have it, he again wins a penalty and was ready to increase his goal tally, except that Beiranvand had other ideas. Team Melli’s goalkeeper saved Ronaldo’s penalty kick brilliantly while a late penalty for Team Melli scored by Karim Ansarifard ensure that both teams split the points.
Top 10 International scoreres
| No. | Name | Nation | International goals |
Caps | Goals per match |
Career span | Date of 50th goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali Daei |  Iran |
109 | 149 | 0.73 | 1993–2006 | 9 January 2000 |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo |  Portugal |
101 | 165 | 0.61 | 2003– | 26 June 2014 |
| 3 | Ferenc Puskás |  Hungary |
84 | 85[b] | 0.99 | 1945–1956 | 24 July 1952 |
| 4 | Godfrey Chitalu |  Zambia |
79 | 111 | 0.71 | 1968–1980 | 7 November 1978 |
| 5 | Hussein Saeed |  Iraq |
78 | 137 | 0.57 | 1977–1990 | 17 March 1984 |
| 6 | Pelé |  Brazil |
77 | 92 | 0.84 | 1957–1971 | 4 July 1965 |
| 7 | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary |
75 | 68 | 1.1 | 1948–1956 | 19 September 1954 |
| Kunishige Kamamoto |  Japan |
75 | 76 | 0.99 | 1964–1977 | 18 July 1972 | |
| Bashar Abdullah |  Kuwait |
75 | 134 | 0.56 | 1996–2007 | 25 December 2002 | |
| 10 | Sunil Chhetri |  India |
72 | 115 | 0.63 | 2005– | 31 December 2015 |