POrtugal’s soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo scored late in his 200th international match in an important victory in the European Championship qualifier. The 38-year-old from Al-Nassr made it 1-0 in the 89th minute of Tuesday night’s visit to Iceland.
With 200 appearances and 123 goals, Ronaldo is the record player and record scorer for the national teams. According to his own statements, there is still no end in sight for his time. “It has always been my dream to represent the national team,” he was quoted as saying by the Portuguese sports newspaper “A Bola”.
Ronaldo stated that the most important goal was to buy the ticket for the EM 2024 (June 14 to July 14) in Germany. “I want to keep making all Portuguese people happy. A journey that I hope doesn’t end anytime soon,” said Ronaldo, who won the European Championship title with Portugal in 2016, beating hosts France 1-0 in the final.
Belgium also victorious
Belgium, meanwhile, braved the recent turmoil between coach Domenico Tedesco and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to secure a must-win in EURO qualifiers. Striker Romelu Lukaku made the decision in the 3-0 win at outsiders Estonia on Tuesday evening with a brace (37th minute/40th).
Johan Bakayoko (90th) also scored. According to Belgian media reports, Courtois was furious that Lukaku and not him had been given the captain’s armband in place of the injured Kevin De Bruyne last weekend. A high-profile spat ensued.
In the qualifying group, however, the Belgians are behind Austria, who, with team boss Ralf Rangnick, have taken a huge step towards participating in the European Championship. In the 2-0 win against Sweden, Hoffenheim professional Christoph Baumgartner (81st/89th), courted by RB Leipzig, scored twice.
With ten points from four games, the Austrians are well on their way to qualifying for the continental tournament like they did in 2016 and 2021. It is already difficult for the Swedes after defeats against Belgium and in Austria.
Game in Scotland suspended for a long time
Norway’s top striker Erling Haaland scored two goals in the 3-1 win over Cyprus. A goal from former world footballer Robert Lewandowski was not enough for the Poles to score in the 2-3 win over Moldova. Poland fell back to fourth place in the group.
The international football match between Scotland and Georgia had to be interrupted for more than an hour and a half due to heavy rain. Water at Glasgow’s Hampden Park was pushed off the lawn after it rained so heavily.
In the match of the European Championship qualifier for 2024, the Scots had already led 1-0 thanks to a goal by Callum McGregor (6th minute). Shortly thereafter, the Hungarian referee Istvan Vad interrupted. After a little more than an hour and a half, things continued with a significant delay. Scott McTominay struck in the 47th minute to make it 2-0, while Khvisha Kvarachelia missed an added-time penalty for Georgia.
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