Cristiano Ronaldo is showing just why Portugal is persisting with him at the age of 39.
Make that a record-extending 132 international goals for the five-time world player of the year after Ronaldo came on as a halftime substitute and slotted home an 88th-minute winner for Portugal in its 2-1 victory over Scotland in the Nations League on Sunday.
Minutes earlier, Ronaldo had struck both posts within a matter of seconds. Indeed, he was an ever-present danger in Lisbon, demonstrating he is far from finished as a force in international soccer – especially against the likes of a struggling Scotland.
Ronaldo failed to score at all in five games at the recent European Championship, but Portugal coach Robert Martinez has kept faith with the country’s greatest ever player and is reaping the rewards.
On Thursday, Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal — spanning games for club and country — in a 2-1 win over Croatia.
The quest for 1,000 began three days later and he didn’t disappoint, despite only playing one half.
In stoppage time, a spectator got on the field and attempted to get a selfie with Ronaldo, but was stopped by security. That happened repeatedly at Euro 2024.
Scotland went ahead through Scott McTominay in the seventh minute before an equalizer from the edge of the area by Bruno Fernandes in the 54th.
Luka Modric turns 39 on Monday but, like Ronaldo, remains as integral as ever for his country.
The Real Madrid midfielder again demonstrated his enduring quality by clipping home an exquisite free kick from the edge of the box in Croatia’s 1-0 win over Poland.
It was Modric’s 27th goal in 180 appearances for his country, which left him tied with former Spain defender Sergio Ramos as the second highest-capped European players in men’s international soccer — only behind Ronaldo with 214.
Robert Lewandowski, another veteran at age 36, hit the goal frame for Poland, which beat Scotland 3-2 in the first round of Nations League group games on Thursday.
Fabian Ruiz scored twice for Spain in its 4-1 win at Switzerland, with the recently crowned European champions emerging victorious despite playing the majority of the game with only 10 men.
Center back Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red card in the 20th minute for bringing down Breel Embolo as the last man, by which time Spain was leading 2-0 thanks to Joselu’s header from Lamine Yamal’s cross in the fourth minute and Ruiz’s goal in the 13th after Nico Williams’ shot was saved.
Zeki Amdouni pulled a goal back for the Swiss before halftime but substitute Ferran Torres set up Ruiz for his second goal then scored himself to clinch Spain’s first win of its Nations League title defense. The team drew 0-0 at Serbia on Thursday.
Swedish soccer fans paid tribute to one of the country’s most famous coaches — and then celebrated the further blossoming of the team’s new strikeforce.
There was a minute’s silence before Sweden’s home match with Estonia in honor of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died on Aug. 26 after battling cancer. An image of Eriksson was shown on the big screens in the Strawberry Arena just outside Stockholm.
Sweden won 3-0, with Viktor Gyokeres — with two goals — and Alexander Isak scoring. They also each scored in a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan on Thursday, with the Swedes showing improved form after missing out on qualification for both the World Cup in 2022 and this year’s Euros.
There was another Scandinavian win as Denmark beat Serbia 2-0 thanks to goals by Albert Gronbaek and Yussuf Poulsen.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
