Cristiano Ronaldo continues to solidify himself as one of the best soccer players of all time with two more goals against Hungary on Tuesday. He’s added yet another record to his collection as the all-time leading men’s goalscorer at UEFA’s European Championship. Ronaldo broke a tie with French legend Michel Platini, who managed to score all nine of his Euros goals in the 1984 tournament. Ronaldo scored his 10th and 11th goals at the Euros.
After teammate Rafa Silva was brought down inside the penalty area, Ronaldo scored from the spot in the 87th minute to double Portugal’s lead and to break the record. Wasting no time to build upon his new record, just five minutes later, Ronaldo scored another, sliding in behind the Hungary defense to secure the 3-0 win in Portugal’s Group F opener.
With two more goals, Ronaldo is now only three international goals away from tying Iran striker Ali Daei’s all-time men’s international scoring record of 109 goals. During Tuesday’s performance, Ronaldo set more than just one record. He also became the first men’s player to ever play in five different Euros.
In his first Euros in 2004, Ronaldo scored two goals as Portugal ended up losing to Greece in the final. Portugal came into this year’s Euros as the defending European champion after its upset win over France in Paris at the Euro 2016 final, where the team won in an extra-time thriller despite Ronaldo’s first-half injury. Portugal added more hardware with the inaugural UEFA Nations League trophy in 2019. Facing the “group of death” this summer, Portugal will have its work cut out for itself as it looks to join rival Spain as the only team to win consecutive European Championships (2008, 2012). Portugal will next face Germany and reigning World Cup champion France to close out the group stage.
