Portugal male football team captain, Cristiano Ronaldo stands the chance of becoming the highest international male goalscorer today as Portugal face Northern Ireland in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
At the present, C Ronaldo, who recently rejoined his former club Manchester United in a sensational move is tied with Ali Daei of Iran who had held the record for long on 109 goals.
Ronaldo surged to toe with the former Iranian International during the last Euro 2020.
As one of the greatest football players to ever take the field is included in the Portugal squad today against a relatively weak Northern Ireland team, will he break the duck?
Will the record head the way of the Portuguese?
It is not something Ali Daei pray for. He once begged Ronaldo when that approached the century goal mark earlier to spare his record, that that was the only honour he had.
But it seems the iconic former Real Madrid striker is unfazed, he rather cruises on to towards smashing the record.
Ali Daei seems worked up as it is also reported that he had lashed out at the Irish football team after learning they are all that stands in the way of Cristiano Ronaldo breaking the international goalscoring record.
He was happy after Belgium bundled out Portugal from the Euro 2020 earlier this year. A report says, “He taunts the Portuguese following his country’s exit from Euro 2020 earlier this summer but there was a sting in the tail for the former Bayern Munich and Iran frontman when Ronaldo pointed out Ireland were his next opponents.”
But Ronaldo remains ever confident that this is the period to break the much-sought milestone. Even if he fails to notch it today, he still have two other matches in the next one week. On Saturday Portugal will take on Qatar in a friendly while next Tuesday, they will square up to Azerbaijan in another World Cup qualifier. In three matches, particularly when his morale is at the rooftop following his sensational switch to Man U, the 36 year old should get the job done, even as he had already labelled Ireland as the group’s “whipping boys” in a press conference ahead of the game.
“These guys have lost two from two, have no recognisable players and are below the likes of Malta, the Vatican City and St Kitts & Nevis in the FIFA world ranking,” he told PP News.
“I don’t think it will be a problem for me to break the record against them. I can see a hat-trick on the cards.
“You know, I am a respectful person and love many Irish things. I am a big fan of the Lord of the Dance and early on in my career based a lot of my skills on Michael Flatley dance moves.
“I watch Father Ted religiously and I also love to celebrate St Patrick’s Day every year by going wild with a few bottles of agua.
“However, they have a lot to answer for when it comes to Mrs Brown’s Boys, so for that reason alone I will not be holding back on Wednesday.”
Ronaldo added: “For a while I did think Jack Grealish and Declan Rice were Irish, but then they lined up for England at the Euros so who knows what went on there?
“Either way I’m a nice person, so I will take along 25 signed shirts for the Irish players to take away and remember the day Cristiano Ronaldo broke a record against them.”
Ronaldo also confirmed he has spoken to Daei about the record, claiming the Iranian is unhappy he gets to face such easy opponents who help him pad out his stats.
The Man Utd star added: “Ali scored his goals against countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives who obviously offer a much sterner test than Ireland.
“He is upset that I get an easy ride and said he will do anything he can to stop me from getting goal 110.”
Let’s see how things unravel at 19:45pm.
