Cristiano Ronaldo is the top international goalscorer in history.
And he did it in typically sensational fashion two goals behind in a dramatic World Cup qualifying victory over the Republic of Ireland in September 2021, which took him to 111 goals for his country.
Since then, he has scored seven more for his country.
Ronaldo entered the game level with Ali Daei, who scored 109 goals in 149 appearances for Iran, but bloated his lines early on.
Portugal were awarded a tenth-minute penalty, but Ronaldo’s kick was saved by Gavin Bazunu.
The Irish took the lead just before half-time and were set for a shock victory until Ronaldo nodded in the 89th minute with a clever header.
It saw him break Daei’s record but determined to get his country’s three points, Ronaldo went on and secured his second and 111th goal in aggregate with another brilliant header six minutes into stoppage time.
Top international scorers
- Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal: 118 goals in 192 appearances
- Ali Daei, Iran: 109 selections in 148 selections
- Lionel Messi, Argentina: 92 goals in 166 appearances
- Mokhtar Dahari, Malaysia: 89 goals in 142 caps
- Ferenc Puskas, Hungary: 84 goals in 85 appearances
- Sunil Chhetri, India: 80 goals in 125 appearances
- Ali Mabkhout, United Arab Emirates: 79 goals in 103 appearances
- Godfrey Chitalu, Zambia: 79 goals in 111 appearances
- Hussein Said, Iraq: 78 goals in 137 caps
- Pele, Brazil: 77 goals in 92 appearances
Since that momentous occasion, the star has netted three against Luxembourg to score his tenth hat-trick for Portugal, then netted twice against Switzerland.
Ronaldo is set to turn 38 but started Portugal’s World Cup campaign by scoring his 118th international goal against Ghana.
In the process, he became the only player to score in five separate World Cup campaigns.