Cristiano Ronaldo scored a 65th-minute penalty against Ghana in Portugal’s FIFA World Cup 2022 opener on Thursday. The 37-year-old is now the country’s oldest and youngest goal-scorer in the tournament.
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Ronaldo is playing his fifth and potentially last World Cup.
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The Portuguese football legend was in the news recently for his controversial interview with Piers Morgan and his subsequent exit from Manchester United. However, on Thursday he was back in the business and scored a key goal.
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In Portugal’s opening group H encounter with Ghana in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, both sides were evenly poised at 0-0 after first half. Ronaldo gave Portugal its first goal through a penalty kick and helped Portugal post a 1-0 lead in the match. Incidentally, Portugal never let go of the lead and ended up winning the tightly contested battle, 3-2.
With the goal, Ronaldo, aged 37 years, 9 months and 18 days, became the oldest Portuguese player to score a goal for the country in World Cups. Ronaldo also became the first person to score goals in 5 different World Cups, having previously scored in the 2006,10,14 and 18 cups.
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Sixteen years ago, on June 17, 2006, in a game against Iran, at 21 years of age, he scored a crucial penalty.
