Portugal legend, now 36, will become the first player to appear in five Euros and needs one goal to be the tournament’s all-time leading goalscorer
Of all the stadiums in all of Europe to be close to full capacity at Euro 2020 it would be the one that
Cristiano Ronaldo bestrides for his latest international record on Tuesday. Murky politics may have been behind the Hungarian government’s decision to allow more than 60,000 fans into the Puskas Arena but, purely on a sporting level, the Portugal great will have the audience his extraordinary accomplishments deserve.
Ronaldo will become the first player to appear in five European Championship tournaments when he leads the holders out against Hungary in Budapest. He has already appeared in more tournament games than any other player (21) and needs one more goal to become the leading scorer in the competition’s history. He shares the record with Michel Platini, whose nine goals all came at Euro 84. Ronaldo’s nine have been spread across four tournaments since opening his account for Portugal with the consolation in their 2-1 group-stage defeat by Greece in 2004. Unsurprisingly, no other player has achieved that feat. Seventeen years on he stands alone, abs at the ready, aiming to reach the third Euros final of his career. No other player has achieved that, either.