Cristiano Ronaldo has looked to downplay comparisons with Eusebio, whilst urging the legend ‘not to be sad’ about his goalscoring status being overtaken.
The Real Madrid man’s hat-trick against Northern Ireland in September saw him move into second in the all-time list of goalscorers for Portugal and overtake Eusebio in the process.
However, the 71-year-old has not taken too kindly to the comparisons to have since been drawn between the two, commenting that Ronaldo’s opponents have not always been at the same level as he faced in his day.
“I do not think he should be sad, the records are there to be broken,” responded Ronaldo in a Press conference this week.
“It is simple that Eusebio will always be Eusebio and Cristiano will always be Cristiano.
“It is normal that people will want to compare us, but Eusebio should not be sad because he will always be up there.
“What I want is to try and play 100 more games with Portugal because nobody will be sad with this.”
The 28-year-old then reflected on Portugal’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers and on his own targets set for this season.
“I believe in the victory. These are two games that we have to win. We are favourites and will enter the field to give our best to get those six points. We must win both games and then see what Russia do.
“I’m an going to continue giving my best. Between Madrid and the national team, I have not seen a big difference in recent years, my level of goals has been the same, I always try to do my best.
“All the players are at big clubs and know the responsibility of playing for their country. We are missing two games and if we do not win then it is not worth talking about the World Cup.
“We cannot think that these wins will be easy, we will have to do everything to win and whilst we have a better team, we need to show it on the field. We will have many chances to win the games.
“Myself? To have scored 50 goals this past year is fine, but I have always been ambitions and want to improve even further.”
Portugal face Israel and Luxembourg in World Cup qualifying this week and currently sit a point and a place behind Group F leaders Russia.
