By ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID (AP) — With his 900th career goal, Cristiano Ronaldo got the best of Luka Modric in the duel of veterans in the Nations League on Thursday, Sept. 5.
The 39-year-old Ronaldo became the first man to reach the 900-goal milestone in official matches for club and country by scoring in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Modric’s Croatia.
“It means a lot,” Ronaldo said. “It was a milestone I wanted to reach for a long time. I knew I would reach this number, because as I continue to play, it would happen naturally.”
Spain was held at Serbia in its first match since winning the European Championship, while San Marino won a competitive game for the first time by beating Liechtenstein.
Ronaldo vs. Modric
Ronaldo and Modric, the former Real Madrid teammates, are nearing the end of their careers but are still going strong with their national teams. Modric will turn 39 on Monday.
Ronaldo found the net in the 34th minute at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon to put Portugal up 2-1. He put his hands to his head and dropped to his knees during the celebration.
“It was emotional because it’s a milestone,” he said. “It seems like any other milestone, but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals. It’s a unique milestone in my career.”
It was Ronaldo’s 131st international career goal.
He was coming off a disappointing performance at the European Championship, when he went scoreless in all five of Portugal’s games before it was eliminated in a penalty shootout by France in the quarterfinals.
Diogo Dalot had put Portugal ahead seven minutes into the match, and his own-goal in the 41st made it 1-1.
Lewandowski strikes
Another veteran who left his mark on Thursday was 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski, who scored from the penalty spot in Poland’s 3-2 win at Scotland. Poland’s winner came with another penalty kick — converted by Nicola Zalewski — seven minutes into stoppage time.
Ronaldo, Modric and Lewandowski have combined for 542 national-team games and 239 goals heading into this week.
Spain held
Spain was held to a 0-0 draw at Serbia in its first match since winning Euro 2024. La Roja has been the hottest team in Europe recently, having won the 2023 Nations League, Euro 2024 and the men’s gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
Youngsters Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, the stars at Euro 2024, were kept in check from the start.
Spain has another away game next, against Switzerland in Geneva.
San Marino finally wins
San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 for its first-ever competitive win thanks to Nicko Sensoli’s 53rd-minute goal.
It had beaten Liechtenstein by the same score in 2004, but in a friendly.
San Marino, a tiny nation surrounded by Italy, is No. 210 — last — in FIFA’s world rankings. Liechtenstein isn’t far ahead at No. 199.
The victory came in Group D1 of the competition.
Other results
Denmark defeated Switzerland 2-0 in Group A4. In League C, Sweden beat Azerbaijan 3-1 and Northern Ireland got past Luxembourg 2-0. Slovakia won 1-0 at Estonia and Belarus and Bulgaria drew 0-0.
The European qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup will be drawn in Zurich in December, likely with seedings decided by FIFA world rankings updated in November after Nations League group play ends.
