By our reporter 23.6.2026
Cristiano Ronaldo Tuesday found his goal scoring form with two goals in Portugal’s group K FIFA World Cup match against Uzbekistan to make history as the first player to score in six different World Cup tournaments.
Portugal trash Uzbekistan 5-0 to revamp their dampened hopes after struggling with DR Congo in their first game. Ronaldo scored in the 6th and 39th minutes to give Portugal a cushion. Nuno Mendez and Rafeal Leao were the other scorers. Abduvohid Nemetov scored an own goal to compound the Uzbeks problem.
Ronaldo,41, continues to raise the bar for longevity in football. He has now scored nine goals in the finals hosted in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and now the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
On Monday Lionel Messi – with whom Ronaldo has been in competition for fans’ recognition as the greatest of all time, or ‘GOAT’ – became the new all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup with 18 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose’s 16 for Germany.
Alongside Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé got their World Cup accounts underway with a brace in the opening round before repeating their success against Senegal and Iraq respectively, bringing criticism over his performance in the opening round.
Ronaldo fired blanks in their opening game against DR Congo, but he needed just six minutes to get on the score sheet. His strike also ended a ten-match goalless run at major tournaments.