Football

“Ronaldo IS a goal” – Portugal boss Fernando Santos

“Ronaldo IS a goal” – Portugal boss Fernando Santos

Portugal coach Fernando Santos has praised Cristiano Ronaldo‘s reliability in helping his country beat Egypt on Friday.

The Real Madrid forward scored twice in injury time to cancel out Mohamed Salah’s opener, earning the European Champions a 2-1 win. NaijaBet.com


Ronaldo, who was playing in his 900th first-team game for club and country, took his international goal tally to 81, the third most of any player in history, behind Ali Daei (109 for Iran) and Ferenc Puskas (84 for Hungary and Spain).

And Santos was not surprised that Ronaldo came up trumps when his team needed it most. NaijaBet.com


“Ronaldo is this. Ronaldo is a goal. He’s a goal,” he told Portuguese broadcaster RTP (via Goal).

“We were better in the first half, but with some less correct nuances in the offensive aspect.

“We could not create great opportunities, but by our way of playing we could have scored goals.” NaijaBet.com

Santos added: “I tried to rectify it in the second half, but things did not go well. The game was more broken and we conceded a goal in which we appeared to lack defensive aggressiveness.


“The substitutions made after the goal caused difficulty. The team was broken.

“Thanks to the players, the team went up and happiness comes to those who are looking for it, thanks to the determination of a team that never allows to lose, always wins.” NaijaBet.com

Portugal face the Netherlands in their next friendly on Monday, with the Oranje having lost to England on Friday.

Ronaldo’s phenomenal form

After a slow start to the La Liga season, scoring just four goals in his first 14 games, Ronaldo has stepped up to the plate when called upon as Real Madrid fight for a second-place finish. NaijaBet.com


The Portuguese forward has scored 18 goals in his past 10 games, averaging 1.85 per 90 minutes, taking his season average to 0.97.

Those goals have largely come down to Ronaldo’s eagerness to shoot, with no player in Europe’s top five leagues averaging more shots per 90 than the Portuguese (6.82). NaijaBet.com

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