All-time top scorer list
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Cristiano Ronaldo set a record that probably didn’t give him much joy on Tuesday evening. His brace in the World Cup qualifiers in the 2-2 draw against Hungary puts the exceptional Portuguese footballer at the top of the all-time top scorers list in the competition. However, it wasn’t enough to win and secure participation in the final round of the World Cup next year. Ex-Leipzig player Dominik Szoboszlai shocked Ronaldo and Co. shortly before the end.
The goals that equalized and gave the team a 2-1 lead against Hungary were Ronaldo’s qualifying goals 40 and 41 before the World Cup finals. It is the eighth time that the 40-year-old has taken part in a qualifying tournament with Portugal’s senior national team. 51 games have been played since 2004 (all of Ronaldo’s goals for Portugal at a glance).
With 41 goals in the World Cup qualifying rounds, Ronaldo has now surpassed Guatemala’s football legend Carlos Ruiz (46), who played his last international match in 2016 – in the World Cup qualifying rounds in North and Central America, where he scored five goals against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The former MLS professional also scored four times against St. Lucia. Given opponents of such caliber, it is difficult to compare his 39 goals in World Cup qualifiers with Ronaldo’s, although Ronaldo’s 41-goal tally also includes five goals against football lightweights Andorra. He also scored six times in four World Cup qualifying games against Luxembourg.
Many goals against weak opponents also led the former Bielefeld player Karim Bagheri into the top 10 of the best World Cup qualifying goalscorers. The midfielder scored seven of his 28 goals in World Cup qualifying games with Iran against the Maldives and six against Guam. Argentina icon Lionel Messi, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suárez had a more difficult time with Uruguay, who are also in the top 10 of the all-time goalscorers list for World Cup qualification.