Cristiano Ronaldo: One player stands between him and history… Ali Daei

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Richard Parry17 November 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo is edging closer to the top of the all-time international goals table after netting a hat-trick in Portugal’s thumping win over Lithuania on Thursday.

That treble took the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star to 98 international goals, and with Luxembourg up next on Sunday, a century of strikes is in his sights.

If achieved, the 34-year-old would become only the second player in history to reach the 100 goals mark.

Out in front with a whopping 109 goals is Iran’s legendary former striker, Ali Daei.

Daei averaged 0.73 goals per game across his 149 caps. Ronaldo’s rate is 0.6, having played 163 for Portugal.

But Daei is under no allusions that the Portuguese forward will eventually overtake him in the rankings, and recently said Ronaldo was ‘in the top three’ players of all time.

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport last month, Daei said: "I am very proud of this world record as long as it lasts, and I think it’s the same for all the Iranian people. They are happy with what I have achieved in my career. In fact, the record does not belong to me, but to all my people.

"I won't be disappointed because records are meant to be broken. It will happen sooner or later: I am happy that such a great player will surpass me. I really like him and the way he moves in the field. Ronaldo is still in top form, I consider him in the top three ever. I can only wish him the best,” the ex-Iran forward added.

“Ronaldo has made contribution to his country’s improvement in the recent years while Lionel Messi failed to do that with Argentina. This is why I think that he will break my record.”

Leading international goalscorers | The top 25

NO	Player	Nation	Goals	Caps	GPG
1	Ali Daei	Iran	109	149	0.73
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	99	164	0.6
3	Ferenc Puskas	Hungary	84	85	0.99
4	Kunishige Kamamoto	Japan	80	84	0.95
5	Godfrey Chitalu	Zambia	79	111	0.71
6	Hussein Saeed	Iraq	78	137	0.57
7	Pele	Brazil	77	92	0.84
8	Sandor Kocsis	Hungary	75	68	1.1
-	Bashar Abdullah	Kuwait	75	134	0.56
10	Sunil Chhetri	India	71	114	0.63
11	Kinnah Piri	Malawi	71	115	0.62
-	Majed Abdullah	Saudi Arabia	71	116	0.61
-	Kiatisuk Senamuang	Thailand	71	134	0.53
-	Miroslav Klose	Germany	71	137	0.52
15	Piyapong Pue-on	Thailand	70	100	0.7
-	Stern John	Trinidad and Tobago	70	115	0.61
-	Hossam Hassan	Egypt	70	169	0.41
18	Gerd Muller	West Germany	68	62	1.1
-	Carlos Ruiz	Guatemala	68	133	0.51
-	Lionel Messi	Argentina	68	136	0.5
-	Robbie Keane	Ireland	68	146	0.47
22	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	65	105	0.62
23	Ronaldo	Brazil	62	98	0.63
-	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	Sweden	62	116	0.53
-	Ahmed Radhi	Iraq	62	121	0.51