Ankara: Cristiano Ronaldo became the first football player to score 900 career goals on Thursday as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in their UEFA Nations League opener in Lisbon.
Portugal full-back Diogo Dalot scored an early opener to put his team ahead before Ronaldo’s close-range volley in the 34th minute, which meant a significant milestone for the 39-year-old forward.
Then Dalot scored an own goal near the end of the first half to give hope to the visitors, but Portugal secured a narrow win.
Playing the game at a top level at least for two decades, Ronaldo scored 900 goals for club and country to go down in history books. He has tallied 131 goals for Portugal.
The experienced forward scored many others for Sporting Lisbon (5 goals), Manchester United (145), Real Madrid (450), Juventus (101), and his current club Al-Nassr (68) in Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo spent his best time at Real Madrid, where he had 450 goals in 2009-2018.
Following the win over Croatia, Portugal leveled on points with Group A1 leaders Po
land, which beat Scotland 3-2 in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Spain were held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia in a Group A4 match in Belgrade.
Denmark are leading Group A4 as they won against a nine-man Switzerland 2-0 in Copenhagen. Swiss pair Nico Elvedi and Granit Xhaka were sent off during the game in the Danish capital.
Source: Philippines News Agency
