After being pushed to accomplish the incredible record by the president of FC Porto, Cristiano Ronaldo has stated that he wants to score 1,000 goals before he departs from professional soccer.
It occurred after the Al-Nassr hero increased his record 125 international goal haul on Friday night. He scored twice to help Portugal earn a 3-2 victory over Slovakia in their Euro 2024 qualifying match, which was also his 200th appearance for the national team. It was also the match in which he reached the milestone of making his 200th appearance.
The 38-year-old player broke Ali Daei’s record for most goals scored in an international competition over a period of 15 years in 2021. He went on to become FIFA’s all-time leading goalscorer in 2022, and he has now racked up an incredible 857 goals over the course of his illustrious career.
But Ronaldo is determined to establish other records before he hangs up his boots, and he has admitted that he is expecting to surpass an ambitious goal that was set for him by Jorge Nuno Pinto, the president of Porto.
After Portugal’s victory over Slovakia, Ronaldo revealed that Pinto had challenged him to score 1,000 goals: “He set me the challenge of reaching 1,000 goals.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that he wants to score 1,000 goals before he retires
On Friday, Portugal prevailed over Slovakia by a score of 3-2 thanks to a pair of goals scored by the Al-Nassr superstar.
“It is to test how mentally strong I am as well as my level of motivation. It will be quite challenging.” If my legs were to treat me as well as I treat them, it would be a win-win situation.
In the first 11 games of the season, Ronaldo has played in, he has scored 11 goals for Al-Nassr in all competitions. Ronaldo has been in good form so far this season.
The five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or remained convinced that he would be able to score at least 900 goals, despite the fact that the objective of scoring 1,000 goals is an extremely difficult feat.
“Let’s see,” Ronaldo said as he continued. In order for me to go to 1000, I have to get to 900 first. I am confident that I will get there. Now, I constantly try to keep my focus on my short-term objectives.
“What is the goal for 900 goals?” I have faith, but for a thousand objectives, that’s a lot of ground to cover.’
It was reported earlier this week that Ronaldo has told Al-Nassr of his desire to sign a contract extension with the club and that the extension would be for an additional year.
As soon as he landed in Saudi Arabia in December 2022, he signed a historic contract with the club that was worth 175 million pounds per year. His previous contract was slated to end in 2025.
This week, Forbes published an article stating that he is presently the footballer with the highest salary in the world.
Even though he turned 38 in February, it does not appear that he has any plans to retire anytime soon. Instead, the attacker is aiming to win his sixth European championship the following summer.
In response to a question on whether or not he will participate in the tournament for Portugal, he said, as reported by Ojogo: “I hope to be well by then, but there’s still a lot of time left. I hope I don’t have any injuries or other problems.”
“Until then there’s a lot left, a lot of things at club and national team,” you say. “I hope to play and be in the finals again.”
The match was also his 200th international appearance and he was presented with a commemorative trophy ahead of the game
Ronaldo was challenged to score 1,000 goals by FC Porto President Jorge Nuno Pinto
He is also targeting an appearance at next summer’s European Championships
Rio talks about his epic ping-pong competitions with Ronaldo
Should he continue to play, the five-time Champions League winner could also target an appearance at the 2026 World Cup – by which time he would be 41.
Portugal currently sit top of Group J in the Euro 2024 qualifying standings and take on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday night.
With a place in next summer’s tournament already booked, it is questionable whether Ronaldo will feature in that match and could be rested, with Al-Nassr back in action Damac next Saturday.
Ronaldo has also made headlines this week after reports claimed that he could be ‘sentenced to 99 lashes for adultery’ after he was seen hugging an Iranian painter on a trip to the country in September.
