Cristiano Ronaldo is aging like a fine wine 🍷
205 caps is mad, that record will probably stay for a loong time. (if it is a record, im not sure but you’d think it is)
He was going toe to toe with a player from Kuwait I think, but seems the latter slowed down.
EDIT: his name is Bader Al-Mutawa and he has 196 caps but the last was in June 2022, probably won’t reach Ronaldo.
I don’t know why, but is there a problem in CAF? How come we don’t have prolific goal scorers?
Lukaku ends his career at the top of this list
I’d bet Mbappé will have more than Lukaku then.
49 goals behind Ronaldo and he’s already 30, he needs to score more international goals than Bobby Charlton did in his entire career between now and retirement to do that and that’s only if Ronaldo doesn’t score another one
Bringing Bobby Charlton who wasn’t a striker into this is just silly.
It all depends if he can keep up his current form this year. If he plays for 5 more years roughly, it’s 10 goals a year which is a big ask but not out of the question.
Ronaldo started scoring more after turning 30, lord Lakaka can easily replicate that
Never
Lukaku is 8th in the world???
Without trying to offend anyone but, EU qualifiers have a ton of really low level punching bags (we just seen France beat someone 14-0) and that is just not possible in other confederations
It’s very possible also in Asia and North America, it’s just South America which is unlucky (and partly also Africa, but they have Djbouti and Seychelles)
The craziest thing is that he has around 16 goals in his first 50 games and has been averaging around one goal per game since 2016 now.
Greatest stat padder of all time.
Scoring in Europe is much easier than SA due to numerous bad countries, and most of the all time great forwards came from SA (Messi, Pele, R9, Rivaldo, Maradona, Ronaldinho, Suarez, Milito, Forlan) so yeah.
Idk why you’re getting downvoted, you’re right. If the likes of Messi and Neymar regularly played against the likes of Andorra and Malta, they’d have significantly more goals than they do now.
Neymar is the most ridiculous one on this list. He isnt even a striker and has an insane goal per game ratio
In history
No harm but look at some of the teams he gets to play against in qualifying games. With Hazard and KDB and others of that quality around you it isn’t too surprising. Also helps that he’s a top class striker
People here don’t like to hear it, but it’s simply so much easier to get goals now than 20-40 years ago.
is it? 40 years ago scorelines 10:0 were pretty normal, nowadays I would only say it’s easier because there are more competitions which means more matches
40 years ago was the 80s bro.
It’s not like he’s the only one playing today
How are you suprised
Reached 50 goals 4 years ago, is at 83 today. Really impressive
He started off pretty slow considering where he is now.
You laugh, but if he maintains his current trajectory, he will be number one in about five years’ time.
Man’s got a goals per game ratio that Ali Daei himself would be proud of.
He won’t overtake Ronaldo, no chance
I mean, he’s just turned 30, and he needs 46 more goals to overtake him. Ronaldo probably can’t keep going past the next euros you would have thought, so maybe the target will end up around 50.
Lukaku’s averaging about 8 goals per year, and it’s not like there are any red hot young Belgian strikers in place to surpass him. So if he keeps going past the next world cup, then there is a small chance; weirder things have happened.
and it’s not like there are any red hot young Belgian strikers
Well, there is Openda who is very much on an upwards trajectory. I could see him take Lukaku’s starting spot when Lukaku gets a bit older and Openda gets even better. But even in that scenario, Lukaku will definitely still be in the squad and get playing time.
Damn lukaky is just 30? I thought he was much older
He’s been playing for the Belgian NT since he was 17 and moved from Anderlecht to Chelsea when he was only 18. He was only 16 when he played with Anderlecht in the Europa League. He had his breakthrough seasons at West Brom and Everton when he was only 19 and 20 and was only 23 when he broke Everton’s topscorer record and finished second behind Kane in the seasonal topscorer list (who by the way is the same age). He was also the first non-English player ever to reach 50 PL goals before 23.
Lukaku seems like he’s been around for ages because he has been around for ages. Lukaku is that rare type of player that was already elite at an age where most players are still looking for their breakthrough.
Not everyone keeps scoring regularly until 39 like Ronaldo
Lukaku has been playing regularly since he was 17 or something, he doesn’t have that much time ahead of him. Don’t see him being able to score 50 more international goals in his life.
HUGE if
200+ appearances for a national team as an outfield player is insane.
It’s honestly fitting that only Ronaldo, and probably Messi, will get to that number, at least for a few years.
Top two goalscorers as well, even more probable.
I don’t miss him at Inter but Romelu is objectively so fucking good. He’s going to join the very select group of players that scored over 100 goals for NT. Thats simply crazy.
I hope Lewandowski can be 3rd on this list by the end of his career
I know it’s not the most immediately eye-catching number on this list, but Lewandowski scoring over 80 goals for a country that hasn’t been consistently able to create chances since the early Eighties is absolutely insane.
Proof that this state doesn’t mean anything about actual quality
Puskas 0.94 goals per game is insane not even Messi or Ronaldo are averaging that much internationally
Haaland is though.
Chitalu’s and Dahari’s deaths are both very sad. Chitalu died at 45 on 27th April 1993 when a plane carrying the Zambian national team crashed in the ocean, 30 people total died. Dahari was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and died 3 years later of muscular dystrophy at age 37 on 11th July 1991.
Mokhtar is his given name
My GOAT sunil chettri is not top3 players of all time anymore. Pains.
On the plus side, his goals/games ratio is better than Messi and Ronaldo.
Chettri is the true GOAT🐐🐐🐐
Who does Chhetri even score against?
Messi is the Argentinian Chettri.
Ronaldo will be substituted in to taken penalties in his 60s.
The difference between Messi and ronaldo is 22 goals in 25 appearances. Messi to lukaku is 23 in 67. I feel like lukaku could become all time goal scorer if his game ages gracefully