Cristiano Ronaldo is now the sole international football record national player. The 38-year-old superstar played his 197th game for the Portuguese national team in the qualifier for the European Championship in Germany next year.
Ronaldo captained the team on the debut of new coach Roberto Martínez in Lisbon against Liechtenstein. Ronaldo scored two goals in the 4-0 (1-0). First he converted a penalty kick to make it 3-0 (51st minute) and a little later made the final score (63rd).
Ronaldo previously shared the world record with Bader Ahmed Al-Mutawa (196 caps) from Kuwait. Germany’s record international Lothar Matthäus made 150 selections in his career.