Cristiano Ronaldo is now just seven goals away from equaling the international goalscoring record after netting in Portugal’s 7-0 thrashing of Andorra....CONTINUE READING>>>
Ronaldo came on as a second-half substitute and scored his 102nd international goal in Wednesday’s friendly as he continues to edge towards the record held by Iran’s Ali Daei.
Elsewhere in Wednesday’s games, Croatia captain Domagoj Vida was substituted after his team was made aware of a positive Covid-19 test, while World Cup winner France was surprisingly beaten by Finland.
Goals from Pedro Neto, Paulinho (two), Renato Sanches, Joao Felix, Ronaldo and own goal from Emili Garcia handed Portugal a convincing victory.
A far-post header late on in the second-half means Ronaldo has now scored 50 goals in 50 games for Portugal since turning 30. Before 30, he had 52 goals in 118 games.
France foiled by Finland
The most surprising result on Wednesday was France’s 2-0 defeat by Finland, a nation 53 places behind the world champion in the FIFA rankings.
Debutantes Marcus Forss and Onni Valakari both scored first-half goals in Paris against a French team that featured Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and N’Golo Kanté.
Griezmann, Kante and Manchester United striker Anthony Martial were all introduced in the second half but France, despite dominating possession, was unable to mount a comeback.
Finland, which will play in its first European championship next year, has now won three consecutive games and will next face Bulgaria on Sunday, while France plays Portugal on Saturday in the Nations League.
Didier Deschamps’ side last suffered defeat in June 2019, a run of 12 games without a loss.
Vida tests positive
It was revealed at halftime of Croatia’s game against Turkey that defender Vida had returned a positive test after playing the first 45 minutes of his side’s 3-3 draw.
“The medical service of the Croatian national team received initial information at the end of the break between the two halves that there was one potentially positive result,” said a Croatia Football Federation statement.
“This is a common testing procedure, and a ‘suspicious’ finding is retested to confirm the result.
“As the coach Zlatko Dalic had already made a decision to change Vida at that time, the medical service of the national team isolated Vida according to all epidemiological measures until the test results were confirmed.
“Vida will, in accordance with regulations, spend the next few days in self-isolation in Istanbul.”
All of Croatia’s players and staff tested negative ahead of the match on Monday, but testing for their next game against Sweden on Saturday revealed Vida’s positive test.
The other national team members will travel to Stockholm as planned after testing negative on Wednesday, according to the federation statement.
