Sports Mole goes back through the archives to look at Cristiano Ronaldo’s career record against Poland.
Cristiano Ronaldo is set to lead Portugal out in Porto when they face Poland in the UEFA Nations League on Friday night.
That is set to be his 217th cap for the national side, but very few of those appearances have come against Poland.
Despite that, there have been important matches between the two, including meetings at major tournaments and in tense qualification sections.
Here, Sports Mole looks back at Ronaldo’s career record against the Bialo-Czerwoni.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s record vs Poland
Played: 5
Won: 2 (1 on pens)
Drawn: 2
Lost: 1
Goals: 2
Assists: 0
With just five career appearances, many would think that there are not many notable moments that may have occurred when Ronaldo has faced the Poles.
However, one of the biggest matches in the legendary forward’s career came against Poland, at Euro 2016, on the way to his only international success to date.
The two sides met in the quarter-finals in France, and the game went all the way to penalties after Robert Lewandowski‘s opener was cancelled out by Renato Sanches‘s powerful strike.
Ronaldo stood up first and converted his penalty, before Ricardo Quaresma netted the crucial spot kick after Jakub Blaszczykowski had missed, sending Portugal to the semi-finals, where they beat Wales, and then hosts France in the final.
Ten years earlier, the two were drawn together in qualifying for Euro 2008, and keen to make up for an underwhelming performance at the 2006 World Cup, Poland put down an early statement of intent, beating Ronaldo’s Portugal 2-1 in Chorzow early in the campaign.
Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Finland all fought tooth and nail in a very close section, and the return fixture 11 months later proved troublesome for Ronaldo and his teammates again.
After scoring his first goal against Poland, with what he would have expected to be the winner with a quarter of an hour remaining, Ronaldo’s Portugal were stunned by their hosts as Jacek Krzynowek levelled in the final minute of the 90 to snatch a point, and keep Poland in the ascendancy, and even though Portugal would go on to finish second behind the Eagles in the group and still qualify, those four dropped points were almost costly.
Ahead of the following Euros four years later, Ronaldo captained Portugal in a forgettable 0-0 draw away in Poland, who were preparing to host the finals that summer.
The two nations were drawn together in the first UEFA Nations League campaign in 2018, but Ronaldo was absent for both matches, meaning there was an eight-year gap between that memorable night in Marseille in 2016 to the most recent meeting he has been involved in.
Drawn together again in the UNL groups for 2024, Ronaldo was on the scoresheet for the second time against Poland in their comfortable 3-1 win in Warsaw on matchday three, notching up goal number 906 in his career.
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