Portugal beat Luxembourg 5-0 in the World Cup qualification on Tuesday, keeping pace with group leader Serbia. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick. Ronaldo has now scored 10 international hat-tricks, the most by any footballer in history.
Serbia maintained a one-point lead over last-placed Azerbaijan by defeating them 3-1 at home. It has 17 points, one more than Portugal, which has the advantage of having a game in hand. Serbia’s last match is in November in Portugal. Portugal, which has won four consecutive qualifiers, will play in Ireland before facing Serbia in the final.
After scoring in Saturday’s 3-0 thrashing of Qatar, the veteran now has 115 goals for Portugal. Last month, Ronaldo broke Iran’s Ali Daei’s record of 109 international goals, and he established another milestone over the weekend.
He made his 181st appearance for Portugal in the win over Qatar. He also passed Sergio Ramos, his former Real Madrid teammate, for the most international caps won by a European player. But catching the holder, Soh Chin Ann, is still a long way off. He has the most caps for Malaysia, with a total of 195.
Cristiano Ronaldo increased his international goal count to 115 by converting two early penalty kicks and scored again at the finish. Portugal also had goals from Bruno Fernandes and Joo Palhinha.
The first penalty was awarded after Bernardo Silva was fouled in the eighth minute, and Ronaldo was fouled within the area before converting the second penalty in the 13th minute. André Silva entered the area too early, thus he had to recapture it.
A few minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post, and in the 18th minute, Fernandes doubled the lead when Bernardo Silva set him up.
Palhinha scored the game’s fourth goal in the 69th minute, only seconds after Ronaldo came close to scoring with a bicycle kick that was stopped by Luxembourg goalie Anthony Moris.
