Ronaldo: Winning Euros with Portugal is ‘equivalent to a World Cup’

With his 900th career goal, Cristiano Ronaldo got the best of Luka Modrić in the duel of veterans in the Nations League on Thursday.

The 39-year-old Ronaldo became the first man to reach the 900-goal milestone in official matches for club and country by scoring in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Modric’s Croatia.

“It means a lot,” Ronaldo said. “It was a milestone I wanted to reach for a long time. I knew I would reach this number, because as I continue to play, it would happen naturally.”

Ronaldo found the net in the 34th minute at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon to put Portugal up 2-1. He put his hands to his head and dropped to his knees during the celebration.

“It was emotional because it’s a milestone,” he said. “It seems like any other milestone, but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals. It’s a unique milestone in my career.”

It was Ronaldo’s 131st international career goal.

He was coming off a disappointing performance at the European Championship, when he went scoreless in all five of Portugal’s games before it was eliminated in a penalty shootout by France in the quarterfinals. Ronaldo could try to play into his 40s and join Portugal for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but he said Thursday that it’s not a priority for him.

“Portugal winning Euros is equivalent to winning a World Cup,” Ronaldo said. “I’ve already won two trophies for Portugal that I really wanted. I’m not motivated by that. I’m motivated by enjoying football and the records come naturally.”

Ronaldo’s career rival, Lionel Messi, won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.