Cristiano Ronaldo emulates Lionel Messi with two new World Cup records

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Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

After watching Lionel Messi become the record goalscorer in World Cup history, Cristiano Ronaldo has now broken two records in his own right.

The Argentina international notched a brace against Austria on Monday to overtake Germany legend Miroslav Klose at the summit of the World Cup's all-time goalscoring charts with 18 goals in 28 games.

While Ronaldo is too far behind his long-time rival to catch up with him in that department, the 41-year-old did break two different records when Portugal put Uzbekistan to the sword on Tuesday.

The Al-Nassr megastar scored either side of a smart Nuno Mendes free-kick as his country went into half-time with a comfortable 3-0 lead after World Cup debutants Uzbekistan had a goal disallowed by VAR for a foul in the build-up.

Thanks to his exploits, CR7 not only became Portugal's all-time record goalscorer at the World Cup but he also became the very first player in the tournament's almost century-long history to score in six different editions.

Ronaldo breaks two World Cup records

The striker's first goal against Uzbekistan saw him draw level with Benfica legend Eusebio on nine World Cup goals, and he left the Black Panther behind with his second.

As a result, he is now Portugal's all-time top goalscorer, though it must be said that Eusebio's previous record was somewhat more impressive given that he achieved it while playing in just one World Cup.

Prior to the 21st century, Portugal were genuine World Cup minnows and only participated in two editions: 1966 and 1986. It was in the former where Eusebio scored his incredible nine goals in just six matches as Portugal came third, to date their highest-ever World Cup finish.

Ronaldo, though, has surpassed him at his sixth World Cup. He is one of just three players to participate in six editions and is now the only player to score in all of them.

The aforementioned Messi and Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa are also taking part in their sixth World Cup, but the Argentine forward did not score in the 2010 iteration in South Africa. Ochoa, meanwhile, didn't play at all in 2006 and 2010 and has yet to feature in 2026.

Ronaldo scored once in 2006, 2010 and 2014, four times in 2018, including a hat-trick against Spain, once in Qatar in 2022 and has now also found the back of the net in 2026.