In his 160th international appearance for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 4 goals in a match that his side won 5-1 against Lithuania. This extraordinary performance marked Ronaldo's 8th international hat trick in a Portugal jersey. Overall, he has scored 54 hat tricks throughout his professional football career. Meanwhile, this is the 10th instance in his career that Ronaldo scored at least four goals.

William Carvalho scored the other goal for the winners. As a result of the match, the Ronald-led Portuguese brigade stays at the second position in Group B for the Euro 2020 Qualifiers. Ukraine currently leads the group with 5 points more than Fernando Santos' side.

Portugal dominated Lithuania right from the beginning, as Ronaldo scored the first goal of the match in the 7th minute through a penalty. In the 28th minute, Lithuania's Vytautas Andriuškevičius scored the equaliser. Until half-time, the scoreboard showed 1-1. As soon as the second half started, Ronaldo-magic mesmerised football enthusiasts, as the maestro scored another three goals within 16 minutes.

Portugal played a total of 726 passes with 91% accuracy and maintained 66% ball possession. According to CBS Sports, this wasn't Ronaldo's best performance ever. However, scoring four goals is indeed a mega achievement.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo with his fifth Ballon d'Or © Faugère / Team

The Juventus star is indeed a legendary footballer. He has proven his talent over the years in both club level as well as in the international circuit. He already has two international trophies to his name and currently, the Portuguese are the defending European champions.

On a personal level, Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or five times. With his 4 goals against Lithuania, CR7 took his international goal tally to 93. Among the currently active international footballers, Ronaldo is the world's highest goal scorer. The second highest active goal scorer, Indian captain Sunil Chhetri is way behind the Portuguese superstar with 71 goals. Lionel Messi occupies the third position with 68 international goals to his name.

As of now, CR7 needs only 16 goals to equal the all-time men's highest international goal scoring record. Iran's Ali Daei currently holds the record of 109 international goals. It is expected that before the end of next summer, Ronaldo will cross these numbers quite easily.

Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal