page_title: Cristiano Ronaldo
section_title: 2016–18: Post-European Championship victory, and World Cup
hierarchical_section_title: Cristiano Ronaldo / International career / 2016–18: Post-European Championship victory, and World Cup
caption_attribution_description: فارسی: نیمه دوم بازی تیم‌های فوتبال ایران و پرتغال در جام جهانی ۲۰۱۸
context_page_description: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Juventus and captains the Portugal national team. Often considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Ronaldo has won five Ballons d'Or and four European Golden Shoes, both of which are records for a European player. He has won 30 major trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA European Championship, and one UEFA Nations League title. Ronaldo holds the records for the most goals and assists in the history of the UEFA Champions League. He is one of the few recorded players to have made over 1,000 professional career appearances and has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.
  Born and raised in Madeira, Ronaldo began his senior club career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, aged 18. After winning the FA Cup in his first season, he helped United win three successive Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup; at age 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or.
context_section_description: Following the Euro 2016 success, Ronaldo scored six goals in the opening rounds of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with four being against Andorra and two against Latvia. These goals brought his international tally to 68 goals, putting level with Gerd Müller and Robbie Keane as the fourth-highest European international goalscorer of all-time. He played his first professional match on his home island of Madeira on 28 March 2017 at age 32, opening a 2–3 friendly defeat to Sweden at the Estádio dos Barreiros. With the goal, he tied with Miroslav Klose on 71 goals as the third-highest scoring European in international football.
  In Portugal's opening match of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup against Mexico on 17 June, Cristiano Ronaldo set-up Quaresma's opening goal in a 2–2 draw. Three days later, he scored in a 1–0 win over hosts Russia. On 24 June, he scored from a penalty in a 4–0 win over New Zealand, which saw Portugal top their group and advance to the semi-finals of the competition. With his 75th international goal, Ronaldo also equalled Sándor Kocsis as the second-highest European international goalscorer of all-time, behind only Ferenc Puskás. He was named man of the match in all three of Portugal's group stage matches. Ronaldo left the competition early: after Chile defeated Portugal 3–0 on penalties in the semi-finals, he was allowed to return home to be with his newborn children. Therefore, he missed Portugal's third-place play-off match in which Portugal defeated Mexico 2–1 after extra time.
  On 31 August 2017, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 win in a World Cup qualifier over the Faroe Islands, which saw him overtake Pelé and equal Hussein Saeed as the joint-fifth-highest goalscorer in international football with 78 goals. These goals brought his tally in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers to 14, equalling Predrag Mijatović's record for most goals in a single UEFA senior men's qualifying campaign, and also saw him break the record for the most goals scored in a single European qualifying group, overtaking the previous record of 13 goals set by David Healy and Robert Lewandowski. Ronaldo's hat-trick took his World Cup qualifying goals total to 29, making him the highest scorer in European World Cup qualifiers, ahead of Andriy Shevchenko, and the highest goalscorer in World Cup qualifying and finals matches combined, with 32 goals, ahead of Miroslav Klose. Ronaldo later added to this tally by scoring a goal against Andorra in a 2–0 victory.
  In the build-up to the 2018 World Cup, Portugal hosted friendlies against Tunisia, Belgium and Algeria. Ronaldo featured in the final of the three matches in which he made his 150th international appearance. On 15 June 2018, Ronaldo became the oldest player ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match, helping Portugal secure a 3–3 draw against Spain in their opening match at the World Cup. In doing so, he also became the first Portuguese player to score a goal in four World Cups and one of four players to do so in total. His third goal saw him curl in a 30-yard free kick with two minutes remaining for the equaliser. His hat-trick also drew him level with Ferenc Puskás as the highest European goalscorer of all-time, with 84 international goals. In Portugal's second game on 20 June, Ronaldo scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Morocco, breaking Puskás' record. In the final group match against Iran on 25 June, Ronaldo missed a penalty in an eventual 1–1 draw which saw Portugal progress to the second round as group runners-up behind Spain. On 30 June, Portugal were eliminated following a 2–1 defeat to Uruguay in the last 16. For his performances throughout the tournament, Ronaldo was later named to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Dream Team.
caption: Ronaldo evades an Iran defender in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup
exif: {}