Late Cristiano Ronaldo heroics show he remains the greatest

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal. Picture: AP Photo/Armando Franca

Just when you thought Cristiano Ronaldo was human, and Manchester United fans were choking on their popcorn watching him suffer against the Republic of Ireland, he reminded us exactly why he’s the bargain of the century.

Having seen a penalty and a free-kick saved by Gavin Bazunu in Faro, Ronaldo’s late, late brace — which earned Portugal a remarkable 2-1 come-from-behind World Cup qualifying win — has made him the greatest international goalscorer of all time and proved that United were right to bring him back ‘home’ in the transfer window.

With Ronaldo’s dramatic move to United from Juventus still the talk of the town, most of the world probably expected him to celebrate with a goal against the Irish 24 hours after the transfer window closed — and he delivered, in dramatic fashion, not once but twice.

His header three minutes from time, which was so harsh on an Ireland defence that had kept him quiet all match, saw the Portuguese overtake Iran’s Ali Daei as the greatest goalscorer in international football ever, with 110 goals.

Then he struck again with another stunning header in extra time to take his tally to 111 — that’s 105 more than Lionel Messi.

“I’m so happy, not only because of the record but because of the special victory with two goals at the end,” he said.

The traditional celebration, in which he ripped off his shirt to show it to the crowd, earns him a suspension which means he will miss next week’s trip to Azerbaijan — but that’s no bad thing for United.

The result was unbelievably harsh on Ireland, but the consolation for Irish fans who love Manchester United is that their side have signed a hero who even at 36 is still undeniably the greatest player in the world.

On his 180th Portugal appearance the script that we all expected to be written was almost ripped up by the Republic’s well-drilled defence and their heroic goalkeeper. But in the end there was no holding back a player for whom superlatives are simply not enough.

Not that the game was without negatives as well as positives for the former Real Madrid man.

His first big chance to break the record came in the 12th minute when Jeff Hendrick stretched to tackle Bruno Fernandes and caught the United midfielder on the follow through. It was the slightest of nicks and it took VAR a full five minutes to confirm the penalty as Ronaldo stalked around the pitch waiting for his big chance to come.

Even with that delay, however, you expected him to find the net. But instead, Bazunu, the 19-year-old Republic goalkeeper from Manchester City, made a stunning save, diving full length to his right to deny his new noisy neighbour the kind of headline which most newspapers had already written.

City fans may well have enjoyed the moment too — especially as Ronaldo famously turned down the Premier League champions this week to join United instead following a call from Alex Ferguson.

But their fun didn’t last long, even if they got to watch Ronaldo suffer first.

He was fortunate not to be sent off after seemingly raising his hand to Dara O’Shea in the build-up to the penalty and then saw John Egan rise above him to head the Irish ahead before half-time.

No wonder he was shaking his head and arguing with the referee as he left the field in search of half-time inspiration.

It was the first time Ronaldo had missed a penalty for Portugal since failing to convert a spot-kick against Iran at the 2018 World Cup — and he was also superbly marshalled by Egan and Shane Duffy.

In fact, having had little joy playing through the middle, he began the second half wide on the left. Quite a victory for the Irish pair — and something that Premier League defenders will be watching closely.

Ronaldo, wearing the captain’s armband, was at least more involved in the second half, but his real impact came in the final minutes when he took the game by the scruff of the neck, moved back up front and headed two brilliant goals to remind us why he is so special. Next up, presuming he doesn’t travel to Azerbaijan, is a second home debut for United, against Newcastle United at Old Trafford on Saturday week.

The big question is will Ole Gunnar Solskjaer throw him straight into action or keep on the bench after so little time to meet his team-mates? On this evidence, it’s a no-brainer — he has to start and the pressure to select him will be immense. It was different back in 2003, of course, when Ferguson brought the teenage sensation from Sporting Portugal, handed him the legendary number seven shirt worn by George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham — and then put him on the bench when Bolton arrived at Old Trafford.

Even so, Ronaldo received a standing ovation when he arrived on the pitch and dazzled the crowd with a flurry of tricks and exaggerated step-overs.

These days the tricks are brought out less often and the skills are overshadowed by the sheer mental strength and goalscoring ruthlessness that has made Ronaldo the best player in the world.

That’s what we saw in the Algarve and that’s why, even if Irish hearts are hurting, Manchester United’s Irish contingent are still tingling with excitement.