Cristiano Ronaldo broke Jon Dahl Tomasson's all-time scoring
record in the European Championship qualifying and finals as his lone goal propelled
Portugal 1-0 over Armenia.
With his game-winning goal against Armenia in Euro 2016
qualifying, Cristiano Ronaldo became the all-time leading scorer in UEFA
European Championship history.
The Portuguese striker put in a loose ball from point-blank
range to help his country to a 1-0 win over a game Armenian squad. The goal
brings his Euro tally in qualifying and tournament matches to 23, passing Dane
Jon Dahl Tomasson's total of 22.
On the record goal, substitute Ricardo Quaresma cut into the
right side of the penalty area and angled a drive toward goal that was beaten
back by Armenian goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky.
However, as Taron Voskanyan hesitated when trying to clear,
Nani was able to get a foot in and stab the ball out left to Ronaldo, who swept
it past Berezovsky at the far post.
Ronaldo has now scored 24 goals in 19 games this season with
club and country and has failed to score in only four of his 24 games since the
World Cup.
Records aside, Portugal and Ronaldo struggled against
Armenia, with CR7 hitting three free kicks into the wall and his teammates
picking up an accumulated five yellow cards.
Still, the victory sees Fernando Santos' side get their
Group I campaign back on track to move a point behind Denmark, who won 3-1 in
Serbia, but have played one match more.
Portugal suffered a shock defeat against Albania in Aveiro
in their opening qualifier but recovered to beat Denmark 1-0 away and as
expected made a positive start on Friday night at the Estadio Algarve, with
Ronaldo the main focal point.
Armenia, though, remained dangerous on the break and were
away quickly after the Real Madrid forward had gone down in the box, but the
referee waved away half-hearted penalty appeals.
No comments:
Post a Comment