LUXEMBOURG • Cristiano Ronaldo will have to wait at least until March when Portugal play their next internationals to become only the second football scoring centurion, but he already has Ali Daei's record in his sights.
The Juventus forward is now one strike shy of 100 goals for his country after netting the second goal as the Selecao booked their berth at next year's Euros with a 2-0 Group B win at Luxembourg on Sunday.
Portugal finished their campaign on 17 points, three behind table-toppers Ukraine.
Iranian great Daei holds the mark for plundering the most number of international goals (109), but after his most prolific year for the European champions (14), Ronaldo is on course to surpass him next year.
He said: "All records must be broken and I will beat that record. The 100th goal will come naturally."
The Portugal captain had been expected to hit the 100-goal mark against minnows Luxembourg, but he found it tough going at the Josy Barthel Stadium, whose pitch was full of divots.
Blasting the "potato field", which prevented Fernando Santos' men from playing their customary passing game, he added: "I don't know how teams of our level are supposed to play on these pitches.
"It wasn't a good spectacle but we did our job... I'm looking forward to my fifth European Championship."
Ronaldo also revealed he had not been at "100 per cent" in his past few games, with club coach Maurizio Sarri hauling him off twice.
While his second straight substitution prompted an angry reaction, the 34-year-old blamed the press for playing up his reaction, saying: "In the last three weeks, I have been playing with limitations.
"But there was no controversy - you (the media) created that. Nobody likes to be substituted, but I... wasn't in such good shape. We could have missed out (on Euro 2020). I haven't been injured much in my career but it can happen... I'll be back to 100 per cent soon."
In Tirana, France christened the newly built Arena Kombetare with a 2-0 victory over hosts Albania.
Strikes from Corentin Tolisso and Antoine Griezmann ensured that the world champions finished on top of Group H with 25 points, two ahead of already qualified Turkey, who cruised to a 2-0 victory at Andorra.
REUTERS
