Cristiano Ronaldo turns back the clock to score an absolute stunner vs Lithuania in the Euro 2020 qualifier

Cristiano Ronaldo turns back the clock to score an absolute stunner vs Lithuania. The star forward also completed his 55^th career hat-trick.

It was just a few days back when everyone had their thinking hats out wondering if we’d already seen the best of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese had after all, failed to play the allotted 90 minutes in two consecutive games for Juventus.

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Despite being arguably fitter than he has in his entire career, Ronaldo’s goal scoring has also been in a downswing. It is impossible to play all your life with the impossible standards he has set for himself and with age, a decline seemed inevitable; not that anyone would have blamed him for it.

However, it seems Ronaldo did not get the memo as he helped Portugal inch closer to Euro 2020 qualifications with a brilliant display against Lithuania at Estádio Algarve last night. The Juventus star scored 3 in their 6-o victory. However, the second of those was an absolute gem.

Cristiano Ronaldo turns back the clock to score an absolute stunner vs Lithuania

Cristiano Ronaldo opened his account in the 7^th minute when he successfully converted a penalty. The second however, was much more complicated and a pure delight to watch. With the ball sent to him just outside the box, Ronaldo smashed a curling effort behind the keeper to double his score.

https://twitter.com/kante_mahmoud/status/1195114100696719360

Ronaldo completed his hat-trick in the 65^th minute of the match when he calmly scored from inside the box. He now has 55 hat-tricks in his career with 9 coming for Portugal. He now has 98 international goals and only needs 12 more to overtake record holder Ali Daei, who has 109 goals in 149 games for Iran.

It is likely that the record will exchange hands with the Juventus star in the near future. However, Ronaldo’s immediate focus will be Luxembourg; The team they play this Sunday. A win would confirm Portugal’s place in the Euro 2020 and a brace would take Ronaldo to a milestone 100 goals.

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