Cristiano Ronaldo says he is more focused on contributing to Portugal’s World Cup qualification, then to his personal goalscoring record. Ronaldo has now scored 70 times for his national team. He is the fourth best goalscorer for international teams in Europe.
On Saturday Ronaldo contributed two goals to Portugal’s 3-0 victory over Hungary Estadio da Luz, with Andre Silva scoring the opener. Ronaldo scored nine times in five games in the current campaign and has reached 70 goals scored for Portugal.
The two goals helped him move past Gerd Muller as fourth all time international goalscorer. The first three goalscorers are Ferenc Puskás (84 goals), Sándor Kocsis (75 goals) and Miroslav Klose (71 goals).
In spite of his impressive records, Ronaldo insists he is a team player and is focused solely on getting Portugal to the 2018 World Cup. The European Champions are currently second in their World Cup qualifiers group. The team is three points behind leaders Switzerland.
“I know how many goals I have but that’s not the most important thing,” Ronaldo told RTP. “What matters is that we won and we’re in the fight to go to the World Cup.”
“We started out timid. We were slow to react to their tactics, but everything changed with the first goal. The team played better, more confidently, and the goals came naturally. The team is good. We have a lot of young players.”
Ronaldo singled out colleague Silva, who scored five times in five appearances for Portugal in this qualifiers campaign. “He’s done very well since he started with the national team. He’s done a phenomenal job, not only with his goals”
Well done boys pic.twitter.com/EsUiLo6sgW
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) March 25, 2017
Portugal’s next game will be a friendly against Sweden, set to be played on the island of Madeira, Ronaldo’s birthplace. The player says he is thrilled for the game’s location.
“It will be beautiful,” said Ronaldo “The national team haven’t been to Madeira for many years. It will be good for the people of Madeira.” The Madeira airport is also to be renamed after Portugal’s captain.
