Another record for Ronaldo in the bag

In a week dominated by the fall-out from his interview with the British TV journalist Piers Morgan and the subsequent termination of his Manchester United contract by mutual consent, Cristiano Ronaldo continues to make headlines on the pitch.

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His penalty for Portugal in their opening group game against Ghana made him the first player to have scored in five consecutive World Cup finals. Already the highest international goalscorer of all-time, it extended his tally to 118 goals from 192 caps.

His first World Cup was back in Germany in 2006 when he scored for the first time in a group game against Iran. Although Portugal reached the semi-finals that year, he is best remembered for his role in getting Wayne Rooney, a Manchester United teammate at the time, sent off in Portugal’s quarter-final with England.

Four years later in South Africa, Ronaldo managed just the one goal again, grabbing the seventh in a seven goal drubbing of North Korea.

And, in 2014, he managed just a solitary strike in a group match against Ghana, with his country failing to make the knock-out stages in Brazil.

2018 in Russia was his most productive World Cup in terms of goals, as he scored a hat-trick in a 3 – 3 draw with Spain. He then scored the game’s only goal in a win against Morocco.

History then beckoned when he took the field against Ghana, but for much of the first half, he seemed a shadow of his former self, failing to control an easy pass that would have set him free, and planting a trademark header well wide.

Whilst the legs are ageing, his football brain remains as active as ever, and he had the nous to go down under a challenge from Mohammed Salisu in the box and win a penalty.

In truth, the decision by the American referee can best be described as generous, and Ghana certainly thought so as they protested long and hard.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo was standing by the penalty spot trying to compose himself, but showed no signs of nerves when it came to the kick itself, which he smashed to the keeper’s right.

That was the signal for one of his trademark CR7 celebrations.

Although that goal took his World Cup total to eight, he is not even Portugal’s top scorer in World Cup tournaments.

That distinction belongs to Eusebio, the man nicknamed ‘The Black Pearl” who only ever played in one World Cup, in England in 1966, but still managed nine goals in just six games.

Ronaldo would dearly love to equal or even beat that record whilst he is in Qatar because he must know that this will be his last World Cup. He will be 41 in 2026 when the next tournament is staged, and, although he remains in excellent physical shape, Father Time is beginning to catch up with him, and he no longer has the speed that he once possessed.

He will also be aware that following his contract termination that he is now a free agent and that this was not a bad way to put himself in the shop window.