Ronaldo makes World Cup history as Portugal hammer Uzbekistan 5-0 to go top of Group K

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to become the first player to find the net at six different World Cups, passing Eusébio as Portugal’s all-time top scorer, as Portugal demolished debutants Uzbekistan 5-0 in Houston to go top of Group K.

Cristiano Ronaldo wrote another page of his own legend. The 41-year-old scored twice as Portugal demolished Uzbekistan 5-0 in Houston, and in the process became the first man to score at six different World Cups, moving past Eusébio as Portugal's all-time leading scorer at the tournament. After the criticism that followed an opening draw with DR Congo, the answer could hardly have been louder.

Ronaldo needed only six minutes. He darted to the near post to meet a low João Cancelo cross and finished first time, the instinct of a striker who has done this for two decades fully intact.

Nuno Mendes made it two on seventeen minutes with a moment of real quality, curling a low left-footed free-kick around the wall and into the bottom corner.

Ronaldo's second arrived on thirty-nine minutes, slotted home after an intricate Bruno Fernandes through-ball, and with it came the history. Having found the net in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and now 2026, he stands alone as the first player ever to score at six different World Cups, and clear of Eusébio as Portugal's greatest World Cup marksman.

The second half was a procession. On the hour the Uzbekistan goalkeeper turned a heavily deflected ball into his own net for four, and substitute Rafael Leão thumped in a fifth from the edge of the box late on. Uzbekistan thought they had a consolation through a long-range strike, but the VAR ruled it out for a foul in the build-up.

Portugal had sixteen shots to seven and two-thirds of the ball, and could have had more. Roberto Martínez's side, stung by the early criticism, answered with the most complete performance any team in the group has produced so far.

The win lifts Portugal to the top of Group K on four points, on the brink of the last 32, with a meeting against Colombia still to come. For Uzbekistan, the tournament debutants, it is a second straight defeat after their opening loss to Colombia, and the exit door is now wide open.

For Kenya, this was box office. Ronaldo pulls a crowd in every estate, and the CR7 faithful had their reply ready. Days after Lionel Messi rewrote the all-time scoring record, Ronaldo answered with a record of his own, the kind of back-and-forth that has fed the greatest argument in football for fifteen years. Mjadala wa Messi na Ronaldo hauishi: the Messi and Ronaldo debate never ends. At 41, the man simply refuses to leave the stage. Our Europe round-one verdict had Portugal among the contenders, and on this evidence they are timing their run to perfection.