In the UEFA Nations League, Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portugal National Team defeated Croatia (2-1) with the peculiarity that ‘CR7’ managed to celebrate his 900th goal in his career as a professional footballer.
In a match in which the preview was framed in a tribute to defender Pepe, who retired from the Portugal National Team after his participation in EURO 2024. With an incredible detail on the part of the fans present at the Benfica Stadium with a spectacular tifo towards the central defender.
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With an early goal by Diogo Dalot with an assist from Bruno Fernandes in the 7th minute of the match (1-0), Cristiano Ronaldo realized that he had the opportunity to score his goal and thus reach 900 goals scored, something never done before, and he had at least two clear opportunities through aerial play, but the Croatian defense knew how to defend itself.
But his 900th professional goal in football came in the 34th minute (2-0) with a good assist from Nuno Mendes and a masterful execution from the official top scorer in the history of football. An unbeatable first half for Portugal and its ‘commander’ Cristiano Ronaldo.
Although Croatia reduced the deficit in the 41st minute with a good collective play that ended with Diogo Dalot’s own goal in the 41st minute (2-1), the euphoria over the historic event in Cristiano Ronaldo’s previous goal was noticeable at the Benfica Stadium.
In the second half, both teams did not hurt each other despite Portugal’s attempts through its offense led by the world’s all-time leading scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was substituted in the 88th minute for Diogo Jota.
At the final whistle, the Portuguese secured an important victory in their first UEFA Nations League match, saying goodbye to a legends like Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo giving it the icing on the cake with his 900th goal in history.
He has scored that number of goals in 1,238 official matches, with an average of almost 0.73 goals per game, which he has scored with the shirts of Sporting (5), Manchester United (145), Real Madrid (450), Juventus (101) and Al-Nassr (67).
His time at these clubs is added to the 131 goals he has scored for the Portuguese national team.
This personal challenge was one of the incentives that the 39-year-old player, who has been exiled in Saudi Arabia for the last two seasons and appears close to retirement, had forged ahead in this match.
A rather curious anecdote that will surely go down in history is that Cristiano Ronaldo’s 900th goal was accompanied by the player’s famous celebration by the fans and the rather catchy ‘Siuuu’, as well as chanting the name of the striker from Madeira, who, to celebrate his new record as a player, threw himself to the ground on the goal line with his hands on his face and a smile on his face.
This match at Benfica also served as a tribute to Pepe, who at 41 has just retired after having played for the national team for 17 years. Pepe was with the team at the recent European Championship, where France cut their path in the quarter-finals.
In the other Group A1 match, Robert Lewandowski’s Poland won 3-2 in their visit to Scotland.
On Sunday, Portugal will host Scotland on the second day of the fixture, while Croatia will play Poland at home.
