Records Come Naturally: Cristiano Ronaldo on Scoring 700 Career Goals as Portugal Lose to Ukraine

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th goal for club or country as he converted a 72nd minute penalty for Portugal in their Euro 2020 qualifier at Ukraine on Monday.

Ukraine though advanced to the Euro 2020 finals with a 2-1 home win over Portugal in their Group B qualifier.

"The records come naturally, I don't look for them, the records look for me," Ronaldo sadi after the match.

"It's not for anyone to reach this number and I thank everyone, team-mates, colleagues, coaches and everyone who helped Cristiano become the player that he is.

"It's a nice moment in my career but there was a bitter taste because we didn't win."

Ukraine needed to avoid defeat in order to qualify for their third successive European championship and made a perfect start when Roman Yaremchuk fired them into a sixth-minute lead.

The striker hammered the ball into an empty net from three metres after Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio could only parry Serhiy Kryvtsov’s close-range header.

Portugal replied with a flurry of raids down either flank but were stunned again in then 27th minute, when livewire Andriy Yarmolenko superbly swept home an inch-perfect Vitaliy Mykolenko cross from the left.

The visitors missed several chances towards the end of the first half before Yarmolenko came close again, firing wide from close range after another swift break by Ukraine.

Ronaldo missed several chances in the second half before a Taras Stepanenko handball in the area, which saw the midfielder sent off as it resulted in a second yellow card, earned Portugal a penalty in the 72nd minute.

Ronaldo blasted the spot kick into the top corner but the home side held out in the closing stages as Ukraine keeper Andriy Pyatov made several good saves, while Danilo Pereira hit the crossbar for Portugal in stoppage time.

Third-paced Serbia are on 10 points from six games after an Aleksandar Mitrovic brace gave them a 2-1 win at Lithuania. Luxembourg have four points from six games and the Lithuanians prop the group with one point from seven matches.

(With inputs from Agencies)