CRISTIANO RONALDO is officially the most-capped male footballer of all time.
The 38-year-old started Portugal’s Euro 2024 qualifying clash with Liechtenstein on Thursday evening.
Incredibly, it is the ex-Manchester United man’s 197TH cap for his country.
Ronaldo equalled Kuwait striker Bader Al-Mutawa’s record of 196 international caps when he came off the bench in the World Cup quarter-final defeat to Morocco in December.
But the Al-Nassr man now boasts the standalone record.
He marked the occasion with a customary goal, scoring a penalty in the 51st minute to put Portugal 3-0 up after efforts from Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.
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And he made it four with another strike on 63 minutes.
Ron made his Portugal debut way back in 2003 as an 18-year-old, coming off the bench in a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan.
The former Red Devil started the first three games of Portugal’s World Cup campaign before falling out of favour in the knockout stages.
But he is back into the fold from the start this evening under new boss Roberto Martinez, and is part of the Spaniard’s plans going forward.
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And in doing so Ronaldo is now the most-capped male international footballer in history, adding another record to an incredible career.
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Speaking ahead of the game against Liechtenstein, CR7 declared that breaking records is his “motivation”.
He said on Wednesday: “Records are my motivation.
“I want to become the most-capped player in history. That would make me proud.
“But it doesn’t stop there. I still want to be called up very often.”
While Ronaldo is the most-capped male footballer in international history, he is not the most-capped international of all time.
Former USA women’s star Kristine Lilly holds that record, having played 354 games for her country between 1987 and 2010.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
