Cristiano Ronaldo has his place on the plane to Qatar booked later this year – and he’ll be looking to create some history at the 2022 World Cup with Portugal.
Ronaldo and his fellow countrymen secured their spot at this year’s tournament after Portugal saw off North Macedonia in their playoff final on Tuesday night. The Manchester United superstar played a vital role in the 2-0 victory, setting up club-mate Bruno Fernandes for the first of his double in Porto.
Having been pipped to automatic qualification by Serbia in November, Portugal had to do things the hard way as they were forced to go through the playoff route for a place in Qatar. They made no mistake though, beating Turkey 3-1 in their semi-final last week before defeating surprise playoff finalists North Macedonia.
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It means all-time record goal-scorer Ronaldo will have the chance to add the one missing trophy from his collection in the winter. And the five-time Ballon d’Or could also create a bit of history in the Middle East.
The 37-year-old will be competing in his fifth World Cup, having been first selected for his country for the tournament in Germany in 2006. Ronaldo has since scored at every finals he been at, placing him in a very select group of legends.
Having scored in four separate World Cups, he joins Pele, Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose as the only male players to have done so. And this year, he could make history by becoming the only one to have scored at five editions of the tournament.
Ronaldo would also join another select group of players to have featured in five tournaments, with only three other players having done it before. He would join Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Marquez, as well as Germany legend Lothar Matthaus in achieving the feat, assuming he features at this year’s event.
And he won’t be the only player to complete the feat, with long-time rival Lionel Messi also set to feature in his fifth tournament with Argentina this year. The pair though find themselves a long way behind Klose’s record for goals scored at the World Cup, with the German’s 16 outpacing Ronaldo’s seven and Messi’s six.
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