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‘It was beautiful for me’ – Ronaldo on record-breaking goal & Portugal World Cup victory
Cristiano Ronaldo has said Portugal’s 1-0 World Cup win against Morocco in which he scored the winning goal was “beautiful." The strike made him Europe's top international scorer on 85 goals, ahead of Hungary great Ferenc Puskas.
Ronaldo’s fourth-minute header earned Portugal a narrow win against a lively Morocco team and took him one past former Real Madrid legend Puskas' tally of 84 goals.
“I’m very happy, the most important thing was to win the game, to get the three points, we knew if we lost we could be out, we knew Morocco would be trying very hard,” the Portugal captain said.
“It was a surprise about the start from Morocco, they were very strong, but I managed to score, to get the three points so it was beautiful for me,” he added.
Ronaldo has hit the ground running in Russia, with his winner against Morocco adding to his hat-trick against Spain – giving him more goals at this World Cup than at his previous three combined.
Despite a far from vintage performance from the Portuguese team against Morocco, Ronaldo says the European champions are aiming to top Group B after improving on the single point in the draw against Spain.
“The expectation [for us] is to continue our work, to improve in the group phase, we’re almost there, then we will see.
“The goal is to improve match after match, we drew our first and won our second, now we’ll try to top the group.”
Group B rivals Iran and Spain meet in Kazan later on Wednesday, before Ronaldo and Portugal face Iran in their last group game in Mordovia on Monday.