Cristiano Ronaldo must break new ground when Portugal face Germany at Euro 2020 if his quest for a new world record for international goals is to continue.
The Juventus star struck twice late on to help his side to a 3-0 victory over Hungary in their opening Group F match and become the leading scorer in European Championship finals history with 11 in 22 appearances.
Ronaldo is one goal short of matching Miroslav Klose (19) for the most goals by a European player at the Euros and World Cup combined, while an altogether grander record is now within his sights: he is only three adrift of Iran great Ali Daei's tally of 109, the most scored by any international men's player.
However, history is for once not on Ronaldo's side when it comes to facing Germany, who lost 1-0 to France in their opening match in Munich.
He has played four times against them – 360 minutes in total – and attempted 23 shots in those matches, but Ronaldo has never scored against Joachim Low's men. Only against France (six) has he played more international games without finding the net.
Former striker Nuno Gomes does not appear worried that Ronaldo's barren run will continue at the Allianz Arena, where a Portugal win would secure their place in the knockout phase and could leave Germany unable to finish in the top two should France avoid defeat to Hungary.
"Cristiano already has us believing that, for him, nothing is impossible," Gomes wrote via UEFA. "He is highly motivated and we can expect him to give his all.
"He may have lost some pace and explosiveness but has gained a flair for different kinds of goals. His positioning is very important and he's been in the right place at the right time, something that is important for a striker. It's hard to find the words to describe what he has done."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Portugal – Bruno Fernandes
Germany controlled possession well against France but looked susceptible to almost every counter-attack with the pace of Kylian Mbappe and passing of Paul Pogba.
Bruno Fernandes, who created a game-high three chances against Hungary, is Manchester United's architect when it comes to releasing forwards on the break and could be the main threat to the German defence if the holders do indeed adopt a counter-punching style.
Germany – Joshua Kimmich
The loss to France highlighted the main concerns around Low's 3-4-3 system: while it gives Germany greater nominal control on the game, it moves Kimmich away from an influential midfield role to that of a wing-back reliant on optimistic crosses (he attempted seven in the opening game).
Should Low return to a 4-3-3, it would allow Kimmich to move back into a central trio alongside Toni Kroos and Ilkay Gundogan and bring an extra creative dimension to the middle.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- This will be the fifth meeting between Portugal and Germany at the European Championship; only Italy and Spain have faced each other on more occasions in the tournament (six). It will also be the sixth encounter between the two teams at major tournaments since Euro 2000 (four at the Euros, two at the World Cup), the most between two European nations over that period.
- The past five matches between Portugal and Germany have produced 17 goals, an average of 3.4 per match. Four of those five games have witnessed three or more goals.
- Portugal have lost just two of their past 30 matches in all competitions (W19 D9), scoring 67 goals and conceding just 19 times across these games. Having won 4-0 against Israel and 3-0 against Hungary in their previous two matches, they are looking to win three games in a row without conceding for the first time since November 2017 (four in a row).
- Germany have suffered three defeats in their past four group matches at major tournaments (Euros and World Cup), as many as in their previous 24 group stage games (W16 D5). They have not suffered consecutive defeats in the group stage at a major tournament since losing to England and Portugal at Euro 2000.
- Germany midfielder Toni Kroos completed exactly 100 passes against France. In the past three tournaments (Euro 2016, World Cup 2018, Euro 2020), there have been six instances of a Germany player completing 100 or more passes in a game and all six have been by Kroos.
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
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