Cristiano Ronaldo Sets New Record for Highest Number of International Appearances

LISBON: Star Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has now become the player who has played the largest number of international matches of all time as he appeared for his 197th match on Thursday.

In his 197th international match, Cristiano Ronaldo was a part of the Portuguese squad in the European Championship qualifier match against Liechtenstein. He was in a tie with Bader Al-Mutawa of the Kuwait team before this match as both had appeared in 196 matches.

Cristiano Ronaldo was captaining the Portuguese national team of the FIFA World Cup held in Qatar where they got out after being defeated by the Moroccan football team in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The 38-year-old had earlier become the European player with the highest number of caps in 2021 after he crossed the 180 mark set by Sergio Ramos with the Spanish national team.

Cristiano Ronaldo is also the all-time scoring leader in men's soccer with 118 goals, is back with Portugal’s national team after a disappointing World Cup in which he was benched in the knockout rounds. He had left the field in tears after the Portuguese team lost to Morocco. He had mentioned that his return to the national team was in doubt after the World Cup, but he eventually decided that it was not the time “to throw in the towel” yet.

The new coach of the Portuguese football team, Roberto Martínez said he still counts on Cristiano Ronaldo and made the star forward one of his captains entering qualifying for the 2024 European Championship.

Post qualification, Portugal now enters into the group of counties including Luxembourg, Iceland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The last match will be at Luxembourg on Sunday. The top two nations from each of the 10 groups qualify for the final tournament in Germany.

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