Cristiano Ronaldo, who turned 38 last month, won his 197th cap against Liechtenstein, surpassing Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa, as he returned to Portugal’s starting line-up and captained his country in their Euro 2024 Group J qualifier at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.

Sporting news has it that the match which took place on Thursday, 23rd March, saw Cristiano Ronaldo tuck away a penalty and slammed home a free-kick as he set a new record for the most international caps in Portugal’s 4-0 win over Liechtenstein in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s career has been built on achieving the seemingly impossible with an ever-present ruthless efficiency in front of the goal.

The 38-year-old has sent goalscoring records tumbling throughout his trophy-laden career, becoming the top marksman in the history of both Real Madrid and the Portugal national team.

And thanks to a career of goal scoring, Ronaldo has the record for most goals in the history of men’s football, as recognized by FIFA. He set the new mark on March 12, 2022, after a hat-trick for Manchester United.

He hasn’t looked back since, and now bagging goals for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia to pad his lead atop the list of best-ever male scorers.

He’s still on senior duty for the Portuguese national team as well, scoring a brace in Euro qualification action against Lichtenstein in late March.

Portugal’s coach, Martinez, said: “Cristiano is a player who is completely committed to the national team. I don’t look at age or other aspects. He has the chance to help the team and pass on his experience to other players.”

According to Mirror, Ronaldo, speaking before the game with Liechtenstein in Lisbon, unsurprisingly claimed that he is still driven by the desire to break more records and cement his legacy even further: “Records are always positive, it’s my motivation and as you know, I like to break records.
“I have a lot of records but tomorrow’s is also a special record because being the most capped player in history I have to confess that it is something that leaves me quite proud.

“In addition to being the best scorer ever for the national teams, I would also like to be the most internationally capped player. But not only tomorrow, but I would also like to have a lot of matches in the future”, Ronaldo remarked.