{"id":21951,"date":"2023-03-23T20:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T20:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/23\/cristiano-ronaldo-breaks-mens-international-appearance-record-as-euro-qualifiers-kick-off\/"},"modified":"2023-03-23T20:38:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T20:38:00","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-breaks-mens-international-appearance-record-as-euro-qualifiers-kick-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/23\/cristiano-ronaldo-breaks-mens-international-appearance-record-as-euro-qualifiers-kick-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo breaks men\u2019s international appearance record as Euro qualifiers kick off"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cristiano Ronaldo broke the men\u2019s international appearance record by starting Portugal\u2019s Euro 2024 qualifier against Liechtenstein on Friday [AEDT].<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old, who was dropped from the Portuguese starting XI during the World Cup in Qatar last year, won a 197th cap for his country.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecords are my motivation,\u201d Ronaldo told reporters. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to become the most capped player in history. That would make me proud. But it doesn\u2019t stop there, I still want to be called up very often.\u201d <\/p>\n

Watch the world\u2019s best footballers every week with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. LIVE coverage from Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Carabao Cup, EFL & SPFL. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now<\/a> ><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal celebrates after Joao Cancelo (not pictured) scores. (Photo by Octavio Passos\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ronaldo made his international debut in 2003 and became the first man to score in five World Cups last year before Portugal lost to Morocco in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

He is currently playing for Saudi club Al Nassr after an acrimonious end to his second spell at Manchester United.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo\u2019s appearance off the bench in the defeat by Morocco equalled the previous mark of 196 caps held by Kuwait\u2019s Bader Al-Mutawa.<\/p>\n

He left the pitch in tears following Portugal\u2019s shock 1-0 loss against the North Africans.<\/p>\n

The five-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner will also be hoping to increase his record tally of 118 international goals as Portugal begin their qualification campaign for next year\u2019s European Championship in Germany.<\/p>\n

Since leaving Europe, Ronaldo has scored nine goals in 10 matches for Al Nassr. He was replaced as the starting striker by Goncalo Ramos during the World Cup, with the Benfica youngster scoring a hat-trick in a last-16 win over Switzerland.<\/p>\n

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Portugal\u2019s forward Cristiano Ronaldo made history. (Photo by CARLOS COSTA \/ AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But veteran coach Fernando Santos stepped down following the tournament and new boss Roberto Martinez has immediately put his faith in Ronaldo, who also captains the side.<\/p>\n

There were questions over whether his 20-year international career had ended in Qatar as Ronaldo will be 39 by the time Euro 2024 kicks off.<\/p>\n

But Martinez, who left his role as Belgium coach after the World Cup, has strongly defended his decision to keep Ronaldo in the fold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not look at the age,\u201d said Martinez when he announced his first squad last week.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard added his squad announcement was the \u201cstarting point\u201d for Euro 2024, suggesting Ronaldo is likely to be involved if Portugal qualify for the tournament.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo adds the international appearance landmark to an impressive list of individual records.<\/p>\n

He is the leading goalscorer in European Championship finals with 14 goals and has netted a record 140 times in the Champions League.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo has also finished as the top-scorer in three of Europe\u2019s top five leagues — in England, Spain and Italy.<\/p>\n

Portugal will visit Luxembourg in their second Group J qualifier. They have also been drawn alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Slovakia.<\/p>\n

FULL SCHEDULE \u2014 EURO QUALIFIERS (24th March AEDT)<\/b><\/p>\n

Slovakia vs Luxembourg <\/p>\n

Italy vs England <\/p>\n

Denmark vs Finland <\/p>\n

Portugal vs Liechtenstein<\/p>\n

San Marino vs Northern Ireland <\/p>\n

North Macedonia vs Malta<\/p>\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Iceland<\/p>\n

Bulgaria vs Montenegro <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo broke the men\u2019s international appearance record by starting Portugal\u2019s Euro 2024 qualifier against Liechtenstein on Friday [AEDT]. The 38-year-old, who was dropped from the Portuguese starting XI during the World Cup in Qatar last year, won a 197th cap for his country. \u201cRecords are my motivation,\u201d Ronaldo told reporters. \u201cI want to become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[151,2228,1641,83,1736,10753,3271,10742,10997,1192,10747,10999,2892,1437,85,1429,8995,492,206,4232,1425,11005,10992,11001,10991,10996,8462,11002,10994,2458,1289,1433,10745,10993,2232,560,2449,1427,10749,1728,11003,324,493,8997,10740,2874,10995,10998,469,10492,10754,11004,2457,9005,2902,11000,11007,11006,1847,3150],"class_list":{"0":"post-21951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-agence-france-presse","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-bader-al-mutawa","14":"tag-belgium","15":"tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","16":"tag-breaks-men","17":"tag-champions-league","18":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo-dos-santos-aveiro","19":"tag-dor-winner","20":"tag-eastern-europe","21":"tag-efl-spfl","22":"tag-england","23":"tag-europe","24":"tag-europe-europe","25":"tag-fernando-santos","26":"tag-finland","27":"tag-germany","28":"tag-getty-images-inc","29":"tag-goncalo-ramos","30":"tag-iceland","31":"tag-international-appearance","32":"tag-international-appearance-landmark","33":"tag-international-appearance-record","34":"tag-international-career","35":"tag-international-debut","36":"tag-international-goals","37":"tag-italy","38":"tag-joao-cancelo","39":"tag-lega-calcio-serie-a","40":"tag-lisbon","41":"tag-luxembourg","42":"tag-manchester-united-football-club","43":"tag-morocco","44":"tag-northern-africa","45":"tag-northern-europe","46":"tag-northern-ireland","47":"tag-oceania","48":"tag-octavio-passos","49":"tag-pat-cummins","50":"tag-portugal","51":"tag-portugal-portugal","52":"tag-portuguese-starting","53":"tag-qatar","54":"tag-qualification-campaign","55":"tag-qualifying-round-group","56":"tag-rio-ferdinand","57":"tag-roberto-martinez","58":"tag-san-marino","59":"tag-slovakia","60":"tag-southern-europe","61":"tag-southern-europe-southern-europe","62":"tag-spain","63":"tag-squad-announcement","64":"tag-switzerland","65":"tag-veteran-coach","66":"tag-western-asia","67":"tag-western-europe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}