CRISTIANO Ronaldo scored his 110th and 111th international goals on Wednesday night to become the leading scorer in men’s international football history.
The 36-year-old Portugal captain struck twice in added time in their come-from-behind 2-1 win over a stubborn Ireland side in a Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier in Algarve.
With the goals, he overtook Iran legend Ali Daei who previously held the record with 109 international goals.
Ronaldo, who was presented with his Euro 2020 top scorer award before kick-off, has had a phenomenal run of 50 goals in his last 47 appearances, and his two late headers cancelled out John Egan’s 45th minute shock opener for the Irish.
The new Manchester United star has now scored against 45 different national teams in his record-breaking run.
In another World Cup qualifier, hosts France were reduced to 10 men and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Bosnia Herzegovina.
Bosnia took a surprise lead through Edin Dzeko in the 36th minute, but France responded quickly with the equaliser four minutes later after VAR adjudged Antoine Griezmann’s ball to have crossed the line.
The task of getting the three points was made much harder for France six minutes after the break when Jules Kounde was sent off.
The 2018 World Cup winners, hampered by their numerical disadvantage, could not find the winning goal and shared the points with Bosnia.
In other European qualifiers on Wednesday night, Denmark defeated Scotland 2-0, Norway drew 1-1 with the Netherlands, while Turkey and Montenegro played out a 2-2 draw.
In the African qualifiers, Egypt were victorious without their main man Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, beating Angola 1-0 with Mohamed Kafsha’s fifth minute penalty in Cairo.
Salah’s Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane was Senegal’s hero, netting the first goal in their 2-0 home win over Togo.
Mali defeated Rwanda 1-0, Libya overcame Gabon 2-1 and hosts Guinea Bissau drew 1-1 with Guinea in some of the other Qatar 2022 African qualifiers on Wednesday night.
