Cristiano Ronaldo reached another of his countless milestones on Thursday night, scoring against Croatia in a 2-1 victory, and securing his 900th career goal. The 39-year-old said he is not aiming to make the 2026 World Cup though.
The Real Madrid legend has now put the ball in the net 900 times in 1238 games, and has an outrageous 0.73 goals per game ratio. There is some debate, with Pele claiming he scored over 1,000 goals, but including friendlies, but in terms of official games, Cristiano Ronaldo looks likely to finish his career as the top scorer in history, with a 62-goal lead over Lionel Messi.
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The Al-Nassr forward spoke to the press after the game, and was asked whether he was being driven by the possibility of making the 2026 World Cup.
“Portugal winning the European Championship is equivalent to winning the World Cup. I have already won two trophies with Portugal that I really wanted. That doesn’t motivate me. I am motivated by enjoying football and records come by themselves,” Sport quoted.
Ronaldo lifted the 2016 Euros after going off in the final, and then secured the 2019 Nations League. With the two being consistently compared, many will raise an eyebrow that Ronaldo believes he has equalled Lionel Messi‘s achievement of winning the World Cup with Argentina, which came to fruition in 2022.