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Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo may be 36 years of age but he's still very much inevitable, as evidenced by his performance against Luxembourg in their UEFA World Cup qualifier clash. The superstar led from the front and scored a historic hat-trick to guide Portugal to a dominant 5-0 victory. Following last night's hat-trick, his international goal tally now stands at 115 goals from 182 appearances for Portugal. It also made Cristiano Ronaldo the first ever player to score 10 international hat-tricks, while his overall career total is now 58 hat-tricks. Unreal.
Unsurprisingly the first to get on the scoresheet, Cristiano Ronaldo gave his side the lead as early as the 8th minute. His 113th international goal was unstoppable as he smashed home a penalty after Bernardo Silva was brought down just within the box.
His 114th international goal wasn't far behind as Portugal were awarded yet another penalty just five minutes later. This time, Cristiano Ronaldo himself was brought down by Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris. Once again, the 36-year-old made no mistake and went on to find the back of the net.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United team-mate Bruno Fernandes gave Portugal their third goal just moments later to make it 3-0 in 17 minutes. The remainder of the first half yielded no more goals and the scoreline stayed the same as the players headed off the pitch at half time.
The Portuguese captain came close to scoring with an outrageous bicycle kick in the 68th minute, but was denied by Moris.
Unlucky 😢
What a bicycle kick 😭
#CristianoRonaldo #CR7 #bicyclekick https://t.co/18EVZ34BWo
However, Portugal's fourth goal of the night came from the resulting corner kick when Joao Palhinha headed in Bruno Fernandes's cross.
Despite a provisional 4-0 victory, Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't satiated. He wanted his hat-trick and as it turned out, not a soul could've done a thing to stop it. 87 minutes into the game, Ronaldo made great movement to arrive at the receiving end of a spectacular Ruben Never pass. He comfortably headed the ball in from close range to bag his 115th international goal.
The historic hat-trick extended Cristiano Ronaldo's lead as the all-time top international and overall goal-scorer but it's almost obvious that (plenty) more will follow.
Portugal (16 points) now find themselves just one point adrift of Group A leaders Serbia (17 points), albeit with a game in hand. With just two rounds of matches remaining, Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo will certainly seek to displace Serbia atop Group A and comfortably qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
It should come as no surprise that Twitter absolutely exploded following Ronaldo's hat-trick and Portugal's destructive performance. The world could do little but hail Ronaldo. On that note, here is a look at some of the best reactions we found to
Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick in Portugal's 5-0 win against Luxembourg
International goal 1️⃣1️⃣5️⃣ ✔️😉 @Cristiano twitter.com/ManUtd/status/…
BREAKING: Hat-trick for The 🐐 @Cristiano 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/mpEpbOR9Ix
It doesn't matter if the game is Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Spain, Sweden or Luxembourg. Cristiano Ronaldo always gets the hattrick 🐐
Cristiano Ronaldo's game by numbers vs. Luxembourg:91.7% pass accuracy
41 touches
7 shots on goal
5 shots on target
3 goals
2 chances createdBrilliant performance. 🔥 https://t.co/rDWWjCV9w4
Doing all this at the age of 36..THE 🐐 THE INEVITABLE CRISTIANO RONALDO https://t.co/YPkkuKsCWJ
Cristiano Ronaldo has more hattricks this season than Messi has league goals.THE GREATEST. 🐐 #MUFC https://t.co/KYXaTeRSbV
Diego Maradona + Lionel Messi
= 114 Goals Cristiano Ronaldo 🇵🇹🐐 = 115 Goals This Guy is just Unreal,the Greatest ever to play the game. https://t.co/P7UTB5ZTmw
Unpopular opinion: Cristiano Ronaldo deserves the 2021 Ballon d’Or more than Messi
58 career hat-tricks for Cristiano Ronaldo 🎩Unfathomable numbers 🤯 https://t.co/pkcu9CCnbO
It’s just the 58th career hat-trick for Cristiano Ronaldo tonight, no biggie.
Cristiano Ronaldo has more hattricks this season than Messi has league goals.THE GREATEST. 🐐 #MUFC https://t.co/KYXaTeRSbV
When Cristiano Ronaldo scores a goal.Records: https://t.co/UUNyAY4Dx4
Cristiano Ronaldo. The greatest there was, the greatest there is, the greatest there ever will be.
@utdreport @Cristiano This guy is just too good. He proves impossibility doesn't exist.
It seems every single international break ends with us all talking about Cristiano Ronaldo. He turns up, he scores more goals, he breaks another record or two, and then he leaves. And nobody can stop him. The greatest of all time. https://t.co/TpQnMsMPBn
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Is this guy, @Cristiano, even real? How can he do this at 37 years of age? I am 34, but I had to take two stops to reach my house at the 4th floor.
Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored eight goals against Luxembourg ⚽️It's the most goals he's scored against a single country 💥 https://t.co/GMWN7iDdXF
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