Cristiano Ronaldo’s international career.

[A THREAD].

His first appearance for Portugal was in 2003 vs Kazakhstan. Cristiano produced an amazing performance and assisted the only goal in a 1-0 win.

Instant impact.

His first tournament: EURO 2004.

- 6 games
- 2 goals
- 2 assists
- Involved in 4/8 Portugal goals (50%)
- 2nd place
- Team of the tournament

Best performance in EURO 2004: Semi Final vs Netherlands. (2-1 win)

1 goal
1 assist

at 19 years old vs a team full of legends.

World Cup 2006

- 5 games
- 1 goal
- 4th place

He didn’t have the best output in this tournament, but had great games without scoring or assisting.

Best performance in World Cup 2006: Semi Final vs France. (0-1 loss)

EURO 2008

- 3 games
- 1 goal
- 3 assists
- Involved in 4/8 Portugal goals (50%)
- Quarter-Final exit.

Decent tournament by Ronaldo, eliminated by powerhouse Germany in the Quarters.

Best performance in EURO 2008: Czech Republic (3-1 win)

1 goal
2 assists
MOTM

Czech Republic were ranked 6th in the world at the time, and Ronaldo’s goal and 2 assists made sure Portugal would play in the knockout stages.

World Cup 2010

- 4 games
- 1 goal
- 1 assist
- 3 MOTM
- RO16 exit.

Portugal faced prime Spain in the RO16. Spain went on to win the World Cup as well as the next Euro.

Best performance in World Cup 2010: Brazil (0-0 draw)

No goals or assists but MOTM vs a considerably stronger team than his own.

EURO 2012

- 5 games
- 3 goals
- 2 MOTM
- Top scorer (joint)
- Involved in 3/6 Portugal goals (50%)
- Team of the tournament

Amazing individual performances as well as finishing as top scorer of the tournament (joint). Eliminated by prime Spain once again.

Best performance in EURO 2012: Netherlands (2-1 win)

2 goals
MOTM

Dominated in every way possible. Clutch.

https://twitter.com/Qauoi/status/1307070151632838658/video/1i

World Cup 2014

- 3 games
- 1 goal
- 1 assist
- 1 MOTM
- Involved in 2/4 Portugal goals (50%)

Played through a knee injury with the worst Portugal team of the last 20 years. His worst international tournament.

EURO 2016

- 7 games
- 3 goals
- 3 assists
- 2 MOTM
- Silver boot
- Involved in 6/9 Portugal goals (67%)
- Team of the Tournament
- EURO Winner

Best performance in EURO 2016: Hungary (3-3 draw)

2 goals
1 assist
MOTM

The last group match, Portugal couldn’t afford to lose. After going behind 3 times in the game Ronaldo saved Portugal first with a beautiful through ball assist, and then with 2 marvelous goals.

Honorable mention: Wales in the Semi Final (2-0 win).

Ronaldo scored the winning goal and provided the assist to the second goal in Portugal’s Semi-Final win to take them to their first EURO Final since 2004.

FIFA Confederations Cup 2017

- 4 games
- 2 goals
- 1 assist
- Involved in 3/7 Portugal goals (43%)
- 3 MOTM
- 3rd place

World Cup 2018

- 4 games
- 4 goals
- 2 MOTM
- Involved in 4/5 Portugal goals (80%)
- 2nd top scorer(Kane first)
- RO16 exit.

Started this tournament amazing but Portugal couldn’t get anything done without Ronaldo being involved on the offensive end.

Best performance at World Cup 2018: Spain (3-3 draw)

A clutch hattrick with a beautiful free kick in the last minutes to salvage a point. Created 2 chances including a big one for Guedes.

All 3 goals came directly from Ronaldo, no other Portuguese player involved.

UEFA Nations League 2019

- 2 games
- 3 goals
- Involved in 3/4 Portugal goals (75%)
- 1 MOTM
- Golden boot
- Team of the Tournament
- Winner

Best performance at UNL 2019: Semi-Final vs Switzerland (3-0 win)

Hattrick with 2 late goals to send Portugal to the final. Incredible quality of goals as well.

Some of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international stats and records:

- 101 international goals (2nd all time + 1st out of active players)

- All time European International top scorer (101)

- All time European Intetnational top scorer in competitive games (84)

- One of 4 players to score at 4 World Cups (Pelé, Klose, Uwe Seeler, Ronaldo)

- Most MOTM in World Cup history (6) (Joint with Messi and Robben)

- Most goals vs top 10 teams in tournaments (10)

- Most international free kick goals (10)

- Oldest player to score a hatrrick at a World Cup.

- Most competitive international goals in a calendar year (14 in 2019)

- All time EURO top scorer (9 goals)

- Only player to score at 4 different EURO tournaments.

- Only player to score 3+ goals in multiple EUROs (2012, 2016)

- Most national teams scored against (42)

Ronaldo’s impact on Portugal is huge.

Before Ronaldo Portugal only qualified for 3 World Cups and 3 EUROs. During Ronaldo’s time, Portugal have qualified for 4 World Cups and 5 EUROs.

Portugal before Ronaldo never reached a final. With Ronaldo they won 2 trophies.

If Ronaldo played for a big footballing nation he would be widely recognized as the greatest international player of all time.

The fact that he has been able to achieve all of this with Portugal is unbelievable.

END OF THREAD.