Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice against 10-man Sweden on Tuesday to take him to 101 international goals for Portugal on Tuesday.

The mythical 100-mark was broken on the stroke of half-time of a UEFA Nations League match against Sweden.

The 35-year-old Juventus attacker curled in a free-kick from 25 yards over the wall and into the far left corner beyond Sweden’s stranded goalkeeper Robin Olsen for a memorable milestone in his trophy-laden career.

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The bonus second goal, and his 101st, came in the 72nd minute, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player cutting back inside the Swedish defence and producing a deft finish into the far corner from 20 yards.

Read: Away fans’ jeering motivates me: Cristiano Ronaldo on playing in empty stadiums

After making his first senior international appearance as an 18-year-old in 2003, Ronaldo notched up his first goal for Portugal in a 2-1 defeat by eventual winners Greece at Euro 2004.

Ronaldo, capped 165 times by Portugal, is second only to Iran’s Ali Daei, on 109, in the list of top men’s international goal scorers.

Incredibly for Ronaldo, just 17 of his 100 goals have come in friendly matches, and his nine hat-tricks all came in Fifa or Uefa tournaments or qualifying games. He holds the records for most goals scored by an European man in competitive internationals (84) as well as the most goals in an international career (101 in 165 matches) by an European man ever (Ferenc Puskas is second with 84 goals in 85 games).

His 100th goal came at a stadium in Sweden which was the scene of a memorable Ronaldo display in the second leg of a World Cup qualifying playoff in 2013.

Ronaldo had scored the only goal in the first leg, and then exchanged goals with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second.

Ronaldo hit a hat-trick between the 50th and 79th minute while the Swedish star hit two in four minutes in the middle of the outburst. Portugal won the match and the playoff.

(Scroll sideways to view all columns in the table)

Top international goal-scorers

Name Country Intl Goals Matches Goals per match
1 Ali Daei  Iran 109 149 0.73
2 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal 101 165 0.61
3 Mokhtar Dahari  Malaysia 86 131 0.66
4 Ferenc Puskás  Hungary 84 85 0.99
5 Godfrey Chitalu  Zambia 79 111 0.71
6 Hussein Saeed  Iraq 78 137 0.57
7 Pelé  Brazil 77 92 0.84
8 Kunishige Kamamoto  Japan 75 76 0.99
8 Bashar Abdullah  Kuwait 75 134 0.56
10 Sunil Chhetri  India 72 115 0.63
10 Majed Abdullah  Saudi Arabia 72 117 0.62

Ronaldo's caps and goals by year

Year Caps Goals
2003 2 0
2004 16 7
2005 11 2
2006 14 6
2007 10 5
2008 8 1
2009 7 1
2010 11 3
2011 8 7
2012 13 5
2013 9 10
2014 9 5
2015 5 3
2016 13 13
2017 11 11
2018 7 6
2019 10 14
2020 1 2
Total 165 101

Ronaldo's Portugal hat-tricks

No. Date Venue Opponent Goals Result Competition
1 6 September 2013 Windsor Park, Belfast  Northern Ireland 3 – (68', 77', 83') 4–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 19 November 2013 Friends Arena, Solna  Sweden 3 – (50', 77', 79') 3–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 13 June 2015 Republican Stadium, Yerevan Armenia 3 – (29' pen., 55', 58') 3–2 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
4 7 October 2016 Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, Aveiro Andorra 4 – (2', 4', 47', 68') 6–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
5 31 August 2017 Estádio do Bessa, Porto Faroe Islands 3 – (3', 29' pen., 65') 5–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
6 15 June 2018 Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi Spain 3 – (4' pen., 44', 88') 3–3 2018 FIFA World Cup group stage
7 5 June 2019 Estádio do Dragão, Porto Switzerland 3 – (25', 88', 90') 3–1 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals
8 10 September 2019 LFF Stadium, Vilnius Lithuania 4 – (7' pen., 62', 65', 76') 5–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
9 14 November 2019 Estádio Algarve, Faro/Loulé Lithuania 3 – (7' pen., 22', 65') 6–0 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
All the nine hat-tricks have come in FIFA or UEFA tournaments or qualifying games.

Inputs from AFP

Data courtesy: Transfermarkt.com

More stats from Cristiano Ronaldo’s international goalscoring exploits here.