Cristiano Ronaldo fired back at his critics on Tuesday after scoring a brace and making history during Portugal’s 5-0 win over Uzbekistan at the World Cup.
Ronaldo has seen his eternal rival Lionel Messi light up the tournament so far – scoring a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 triumph over Algeria before both goals in their 2-0 victory against Austria on Monday.
Those performances were in stark contrast to Ronaldo’s first as he and Portugal laboured to a 1-1 draw with DR Congo last week.
However, Portugal’s captain responded on Tuesday in their second Group K clash against Uzbekistan before reminding everyone who he is at full-time too.
As the cameras panned to Ronaldo after the whistle had been blown, the forward – who was named man of the match – stared down the lens and shouted ‘I’m back’ as a poignant message to his critics.
It was a match to savour for the 41-year-old who became the first male footballer to score in six different World Cups – to further cement his legacy as one of the sport’s greats.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first male footballer to score in six different World Cups
He achieved the record-breaking feat with this finish on six minutes vs Uzbekistan on Tuesday
Ronaldo scored his second, and Portugal’s third, of the match with this right-footed finish
Speaking post-match, Ronaldo admitted it had been a ‘dark week’ for him amid the criticism but is glad to have silenced his doubters.
‘Just so you don’t forget, just so you don’t forget,’ he said of his message to the cameras.
‘I knew it. God helps those who work hard. It was a difficult, dark week, it felt like I was already retired from football, but I held on as I always do because I believe more in hard work than in football. It was difficult, I have to confess, but we’re back.’
And on being compared to Messi’s start at this World Cup?
‘I don’t care about Messi,’ came the blunt response.
The iconic No 7 scored the record-breaking goal in the sixth minute when he finished Joao Cancelo’s cross.
‘Very happy, but for me the most important thing is the work the team did, the confidence we had,’ he said about his historic moment.
‘We took a lot of hits during the week, we knew that would happen. The team worked very well, we improved a lot. There are evils that come for good, as they say. Speaking for myself, it’s always nice to break records, but my goal is to help the national team achieve its objectives. In this part, it was to get through the qualifying round, with four points I think we’ve already done it.’
He scored again in the 39th minute when he got a pass from Bruno Fernandes and shot with his right foot just inside the near post to make the score 3-0.
The goals make him the second-oldest player to score at a World Cup behind Cameroon forward Roger Milla, who was 42 when he scored at the 1994 tournament in the United States.
Ronaldo now has 145 goals for his country and 10 at World Cups.
His first came 20 years ago in Germany, when he scored against Iran in Frankfurt.
He added another in 2010 against North Korea, and a third against Ghana in Brazil four years later. Four more followed in Russia in 2018 – a hat-trick against Spain in the opening game and one more against Morocco.
He then became the first player to score in five editions of the tournament when he scored the only goal of the game against Ghana at Qatar 2022 – a record since matched by his great rival Lionel Messi at this tournament.
But Ronaldo is now out on his own again with goals in six tournaments – the perfect riposte to those who felt he was a negative influence on the team after failing to register a shot on target in the opener against DR Congo.
Aside from his brace on Tuesday, goals for Roberto Martinez’s side came courtesy of a Nuno Mendes free-kick, an unfortunate own goal from Uzbek goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov and a late Rafael Leao strike.
