Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late winner on his 200th international appearance for his country Portugal which defeated Iceland 1-0 on Tuesday, June 20, to maintain their perfect qualifiers campaign for Euro 2024.
Following Tuesday’s match, Ronaldo is now the first player to make 200 appearances in men’s international football.
Ronaldo who broke Kuwait forward Bader Al-Mutawa’s 196-cap record in March, was given a certificate by Guinness World Records before kick-off to mark his 200th appearance for Portugal.
The Al Nassr player started in the no.9 position and scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute to maintain Portugal’s 100 percent winning run in the Euro Qualifiers.
The 38-year-old turned home Goncalo Inacio’s header from close range. The goal was initially ruled out for an Inacio offside but was awarded by the video assistant referee. The goal was Ronaldo’s 123rd international goal, extending his world record.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to make 200 appearances in men’s international football 🐐 pic.twitter.com/kGO6wn3XwT
— GOAL (@goal) June 20, 2023
He celebrated the late goal with his iconic signature ‘siuu’ celebration in the historic match.
Ronaldo’s first national team game came 19 years ago when he came on as a substitute against Kazakhstan in a friendly, which ended in a 1-0 win.
The veteran attacker has now assumed an elder-statesman role within Portugal’s squad as they look to qualify for Euro 2024. He has insisted he will continue to feature for the national team in the coming years.
The 200-cap achievement is just the latest international record that Ronaldo has broken. He is also the leading goalscorer in men’s international football history, the first man to score in five World Cups, the first man to score 10 international hat-tricks, the top scorer and appearance maker at European Championships, and the most caps as Portugal’s captain.
Portugal remains two points clear of Slovakia at the top of Group J after a fourth straight win. Slovakia, who are Portugal’s next opponents in September, won 1-0 away to Liechtenstein to also stay unbeaten.
The top two from each group will qualify automatically for the 2024 Euro in Germany.
