Al Nassr of Saudi Pro League superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo fired a not-so-subtle message to archrival Lionel Messi after scoring his 900th career goal, saying Portugal’s Euro 2016 triumph is ‘equivalent’ to winning a World Cup.
The 39-year-old iconic football star, who has had a near career-long rivalry with Messi, reached the remarkable milestone on Thursday’s night as Portugal opened their Nations League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Croatia.
It was a mixed night for Ronaldo’s former Manchester United team-mate Diogo Dalot in Lisbon, with the defender breaking the deadlock early on before directing the ball into his own net at the other end of the pitch.
Fortunately for Dalot, Ronaldo’s 34th-minute strike proved decisive and Roberto Martinez’s men held firm to secure maximum points from the heavyweight clash at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz.
Metro.co.uk reports that after volleying Nuno Mendes’ inviting cross beyond Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, Ronaldo dropped to his knees and broke down in tears, clearly overcome with emotion at his astonishing achievement.
Ronaldo and team will look to maintain their 100 per cent record in the competition when they play host to Scotland in their second Group A contest on Sunday evening.
Speaking to the media after becoming the first player in history to score 900 goals, Ronaldo insisted that ‘enjoying football’ was now his sole motivation – rather than winning the World Cup.
“Portugal winning Euros is equivalent to winning a World Cup,” the veteran attacker said.
‘I’ve already won two trophies for Portugal that I really wanted. I’m not motivated by that.
‘I’m motivated by enjoying football and the records come naturally.’ Ronaldo added: ‘Scoring 900 goals seems like any other milestone, but only I know how hard it is to work every day to score your 900th goal.
‘It’s a unique milestone in my career. ‘I don’t break records… they haunt me!,” Ronaldo said.
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