Well they do, Kane and Lukaku have more goals per game than Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr
- Thread starter Bastian
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He's a fraction of the player he used to be and a gargantuan knob, but trying to downplay the amount of goals and games he has in international football just comes across as bitter. His achievements are undeniable, and the fact that he still has the drive to keep improving his tally is remarkable. Some of his records will stand for a long, long time.
So the only reason no one else has ever scored as many international goals is because they didn’t want to? Did ramos not want to score any against a 10 man Luxembourg to try and win a starting spot?
Since Ronaldo turned 30 I think he's almost at a goal a game for Portugal which is quite a crazy stat. You're including a lot of games where Ronaldo was a skinny winger, before he became an out and out goalscorer, lukaku and kane have played as a striker through their whole international career
Edit: checked his Wikipedia, Ronaldo had 27 goals in his first 82 games for Portugal, since then he's a 95 in 114 games. That's quite an impressive record
Top scorer in international football history was never a record taken seriously by top players, in fact I never even heard it mentioned by anyone for years until Ronaldo broke it, it was held by Ali Daei for many years but nobody considered him in the top 50 strikers of his time. Most players would play 2 to 3 World Cup max and then retire to focus on club. Ronaldo breaking the mould on that for sure.
I'm not saying it's an achievement that makes him the best international player ever or anything, but it's odd that he gets criticism for scoring against teams that all European attackers play against. Ali daei was playing in another confederation, he was certainly not playing against the same teams as the other strikers he's compared against. Apart from the south american ones, Ronaldo plays against the same teams as the other top attackers in qualifying matches
Ronaldo has been Portugal’s main attacking scorer for at least 15 years, which is longer than most player’s careers.
It is an impressive record but ultimately he couldn’t score a single goal in the knockout stage of the World Cup, which is a black mark on his international career when you compare to his Champions League record.
How many top players do you know to confirm this?!
Ronaldo didn't score a goal in the champions league for his first 30 games. During this time period was when Ronaldo played 3 WC knockout games, he wasn't scoring in either at that point. He also played 2 knockout games at the most recent world cup, at which point he wasn't scoring in the champions league either. He's played 2 WC knockout games during the time period when he was an elite champions league goalscorer. 0 in 2 isn't great but it's not absolutely atrocious, given that one of those games was against Spain in 2010, that any attacker would have struggled with
That's a crazy stat!
I know they play a lot more internationals nowadays than in Eusebio's time, but not that much more than when Figo and Pauleta played.
And the same applies to all modern players, but I bet the gap between the top scorers is rarely anywhere near that amount!
His longevity is insane when you put into context he scored his first goal for Portugal 19 years ago. I bet there's not many others with such a gap between their first and last/most recent goal.
I thought International football doesn't matter? Apparently the world cup doesn't but stat padding vs Luxembourg and Liechtenstein does?
Dude, they're literally all doing this, that's why virtually every European record now is held by someone playing now or someone who retired recently.
But you would have to admit his record and performances in World Cups is the worst of any player considered top 10 of all time? Apart from Best or Di Stefano that never played in it. He scored 8 goals in 22 matches - Kane has 8 in 11, Neymar has 8 in 14, never mind someone like Mbappé with 12 in 14. He had 5 attempts, the joint most of all time, so it’s not through lack of chances.
The record is a feat of longevity (which is difficult in and of itself) but it's not an indication that he is in fact more prolific than someone like Eusebio.
That's such a pathetic and bitter attempt to 'critcise' a player.
So maintaining the desire to still represent your nation at 38 is now a bad thing, is it? You'd better tell all those other players who are still doing it in their late 30's. And, of whom, maintaining that 'desire and hunger' at such an age is always viewed as a positive attribute that reflects well on those players.
Funny that everyone's got it so wrong and apparently it's a selfish and egocentric thing to do.
I meant why they haven't scored as many as Ronaldo, or why ramos didn't score any after coming on against a tired 10 man Luxembourg, is he stupid? It's only seen as stat padding when it's Ronaldo. For an example look at club football, suarez 13/14 is widely heralded as an all time great Premier league season, but half of his goals came against the teams that finished in the bottom 4, yet hardly anyone ever talks about stat padding. Whereas the usual haters rush in to this thread after any game that Ronaldo scores in to post about it, and it's always the same posters, almost as if they have an agenda
Ronaldo could probably play until his mid 40’s and him being such an instinctive goal scorer he will continue to score goals against fodder in international football and the Saudi league. he is remarkable in front of goal so against lesser opposition he will always have a field day, but Portugal will see the same issues when they come up against decent teams and he will become a hindrance. This is why he had to leave Utd.
He should go to Japan they've still got someone in their 50s playing!
Stat padding v a bunch of amateurs?
CR7 one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. He's finished at the top level sadly.
CR7 one of the greatest goal scorers of all time. He's finished at the top level sadly.
Kane, neymar, and mbappe all play for stronger sides. Up until 2018, Portugal weren't great apart from Ronaldo. They've had a strong side since then and I'd say he should have done better at the 2018 world cup. 2 of his chances were at points where he wasn't one of the best players in the world, one in 2014 he was carrying a bad knee injury. Up until this world cup, Messi didn't have a great record either at world cups,
They have scored at the same rate as Ronaldo, they just haven't played as many games. Ronaldo has played nearly 200 games.
They were European champions in 2016! 2010 and 2014 he should have been better. He was considered the best player in the world or close to it at the time. Portugal were good enough, not saying they were best in the tournament but why couldn’t he play like Forlan, James Rodriguez or other inferior players that played for teams that were considered inferior to Portugal at the tournament? He was fine in 2006 and he was past it by the last World Cup, shouldn’t have been starting games.
Messi was slightly better than Ronaldo heading into the 2022 World Cup, Messi was slightly underwhelming and then that’s when comparisons stopped.
Again, a fair chunk of Ronaldo's games came as a winger. Since he turned 30, he's been close to a goal a game, I don't see lukaku or kane managing that kind of scoring rate
How many games has he played since he turned 30?
I think that was the point - that it's a bit pathetic and hypocritical for some to slag off Ronaldo for 'egocentrically stat padding' against smaller teams, as if every other top player doesn't also score plenty against them as well.
In every group / league, you have stronger teams and weaker teams. And of course most get plenty of goals against the weaker opposition. That's obvious. Yet for some pathetic reason it's used as a stick to beat Ronaldo with as 'stat padding'. When it's just the perfectly obvious thing that happens all the time - teams (and therefore individual players) will likely score more against weaker teams than stronger ones. No more selfish or egocentric for Ronaldo to do the same than it is every other player of the game. He's just scored the most, and for people who hate him that's galling and leading to some pretty pathetic and hypocritical attempts to downplay / undermine every goal or achievement.
Well in 2010, I would have said you could probably put any player in history in place of Ronaldo, and they still get knocked out against that Spain side. And in 2014, he's carrying a knee injury. They were European champions but they weren't an incredibly strong side, Greece were champions in 2004, I wouldn't say they were the strongest side in Europe either
As far as I can tell from Wikipedia, 80 games and 70 goals in that time
I watched Ronaldo at all the world cups and he was individually poor at all of them except the one game vs Spain which was defined by his goals. 2 typical ones and 1 great free kick.
You can also talk about the European cup which Portugal won. He actually did not have a good tournament individually despite Portugal paying minnows throughout.
Anyway, there is much to admire about Ronaldo for his handwork, dedication and determination. Most players at 38 playing in a retirement league would not give a shit about the numbers but Ronaldo does. Even though those stats will always be rubbished.
Well they all are.... Lewandowski 78 goals, Lukaku 71 goals, Kane 55 goals, Mitrovic 52 goals, Dzeko 64 goals.... some of these actually kind of rest up against San Marino or whatever too.
It's because he became a poacher on turning 30 with the rest of his game going in reverse.
I'm not very good with maths, are these numbers higher or lower than 122?
They do, it depends on the way to play of the team also and how stacked they are with options.
Whereas lukaku that he's being compared to is a brilliant playmaker? He's scored at a better rate after he became a goalscorer, it seems odd to be including lots of games where he was a winger (and a proper winger, not a wide forward) in his scoring rate in comparison to players who've solely played as strikers
It's a function of the times, the other guys are the same, fair enough. I made a list in the Kane thread (when everyone was bigging him up) about all the current and near current players who hold the international records. But the problem is the tweet referenced above which kind of implies 'Oh Eusebio only scored 41 goals.' No context.
I’m not great with maths either but Mitrovic is 10 years younger than Ronaldo? How would he have more goals?
There's 3 certainties in life, death, taxes and keanomagichat, mshnsh and andrade running Ronaldo down after every international game he plays
Lower. But they are all feasting and are much younger. Context doesn't exist in genuine debates I agree. But Memphis Depay will Netherlands top scorer ever soon, says it all about the modern international scene and European minnows.