Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to score at six World Cups

William Dobbie Published: 1 hour ago

Cristiano Ronaldo added yet another record to his name by scoring at his sixth different World Cup with a goal against Uzbekistan.

The 41-year-old netted his first of this tournament and ninth World Cup goal in total during Portugal's second group game in Houston.

After netting his maiden World Cup goal all the way back in 2006 against Iran, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has now scored in each and every edition of the tournament since; his latest strike also making him the second-oldest goalscorer in the competition's history.

Ronaldo's great rival Lionel Messi has scored at five World Cups after failing to find the net in the 2010 edition in South Africa.

Download the App

World Cup

View Latest Odds

With two decades separating Ronaldo's first and most recent World Cup strikes, he is both Portugal's youngest and oldest scorer at the tournament.

Whilst he didn't manage to add to his tally again in Germany, Ronaldo did manage to score the all-important spot-kick during Portugal's penalty-shootout quarter-final victory over England. He was named Young Player of the Tournament after Portugal's last four elimination to France.

Although Portugal had tournaments to forget in both 2010 and 2014, solitary strikes against North Korea and Ghana saw Ronaldo draw further clear in his country's all-time top goalscorer list.

On 15th June 2018, Ronaldo would become the oldest player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup finals courtesy of a dazzling treble against Spain in the group stages. The former Manchester United man slotted two past David de Gea before providing arguably his greatest ever World Cup moment by perfectly dispatching a free-kick into the top corner.

His only other goal of that tournament, a header against Morocco, saw Ronaldo surpass Ferenc Puskas as the highest European goalscorer in international football.

Facing a raft of criticism heading into Portugal's clash with Uzbekistan, the leading goalscorer in the entire history of the game did what he does best and proved his doubters wrong, netting for the 974th time in his glittering career.