Ali Daei has sent Cristiano Ronaldo a message of support after seeing his international goals record equalled.
Ronaldo netted his 108th and 109th goals for Portugal during their 2-2 draw with France.
It’s taken him level with Daei, who scored 109 times in 149 appearances for Iran between 1993 and 2006.
The 52-year-old took to Instagram and congratulated Juventus forward Ronaldo on his achievement.
He said: “Congratulations to @cristiano who is now one goal away from breaking the men’s international goal scoring record.
“I am honoured that this remarkable achievement will belong to Ronaldo – great champion of football and caring humanist who inspires and impacts lives throughout the world.”
Daei has held the record since 2000 but it looks like that’ll come to an end this summer.
Ronaldo has scored five times at Euro 2020 so far, managing to find the net in all three group games.
He scored twice in a 3-0 victory over Hungary, opened the scoring in 4-2 defeat to Germany and grabbed another brace against France on Wednesday evening.
The 36-year-old started his career as a winger before becoming a striker.
Following an £80 million transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Ronaldo was slowly shifted into a central role.
Image Credit: PA |
He’s flourished there and now leads the line for Juve and Portugal.
France qualified top of Group F and that means they’ll take on Switzerland on Monday.
Manager Didier Deshcamps said per Daily Echo: “In terms of points, we are first. Maybe other teams gave a better impression than the French team but now it is a new competition that starts.
“The first match against Germany was really important for us and to win this one point against Hungary allowed us even before this match to be qualified but as I said to the players we don’t want to do any calculations because we don’t want to take any risks.
Ronaldo and Benzema at half-time. Great to see old teammates appreciating each other 🙌🏼🤩 pic.twitter.com/gDOZchDEMF
— Row Z (@RowZMedia) June 23, 2021
“We have seen everything could change very quickly in this group. Of course we didn’t do everything well all the time and we can improve some things.”
Portugal, meanwhile, will face Group B winners Belgium in a proper heavyweight clash on Sunday.
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