Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace for Portugal against Liechtenstein to break more records for his country – but new footage shows that the striker should have had a hat-trick.
Portugal started their European Championship qualifying journey with an emphatic 4-0 victory on home soil.
Joao Cancelo opened the scoring in Lisbon inside eight minutes with a deflected drive from outside the box.
Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva then doubled the hosts’ lead two minutes after half-time, before Ronaldo scored twice in 12 minutes, once from the spot and then from a sensational free-kick.
It was a first game in the Portugal dugout and a first win for new boss Roberto Martinez, and the manager was delighted with his side’s performance after the game.
“It was very, very positive,” the former Belgium head coach said.
“It was an obvious next step from the attitude and the work we did in training. It is always very difficult to play this type of game, they are ‘trap games’, but the way we played with the ball and how we smothered the danger of Liechtenstein was very important.”
Should Ronaldo have had a hat-trick?
But although it was a big night for Ronaldo, a new video appears to show that the Al-Nassr man should have had a hat-trick.
When Cancelo opened the scoring early in the match, it took a big deflection off a Liechtenstein player en route to the goal.
However, officials seem to have missed that it took another deflection after, off the leg of a static Ronaldo.
His hand went up as if to celebrate his first goal on the night, but it was instead credited to Cancelo.
Despite scoring two in the second half, you just know Ronaldo will desperately want the credit for that third goal – as any striker probably would.
Watch: Cancelo’s goal deflects off Ronaldo
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Should this count as a Cristiano Ronaldo goal? 👀
*Note: This was given as a Cancelo goal and UEFA haven’t given it to Ronaldo yet but if they do Ronaldo would end up having a hat-trick.
— The CR7 Timeline. (@TimelineCR7) March 23, 2023
More records broken
However, Ronaldo’s appearance and brace for Portugal means that he has broken more records forA Seleção.
It was his 197th senior career game for the national side, which makes him the most capped player in the men’s game.
He has now surpassed Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa who has 196 senior appearances, and the striker took to Instagram after the game to express his delight at the achievement.
“Such good feelings to play and score again for our National Team and in a special stadium for me. Proud to be the most international player ever,” he wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Moreover, his brace on the night also carried him to the one hundred competitive international goals.
He is the first player to hit that tally, with long-time rival Lionel Messi only one behind him after scoring his 99th goal for Argentina against Panama on the same night.
Ronaldo has now scored in 20 consecutive years for Portugal, and even at 38 years of age, he looks hungry for even more.