Ronaldo sets a World Cup record—but only because he’s old

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has set yet another record—simply because he’s old. At 41 years and 132 days, the Portuguese player became the oldest field player ever to start in a FIFA World Cup final tournament when the match kicked off at noon (local time) in Houston, according to data provider Opta.

The multiple-time World Player of the Year, as usual, played up front for the Portuguese national team—one of the co-favorites to win the title—against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In their opening match, however, the star-studded Portuguese squad failed to impress—the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Ronaldo himself never really got going and posed little threat.

This is likely all the more painful given that, the day before, his longtime rival Lionel Messi put on a spectacular show, scoring a hat trick to lead Argentina to a 3-0 victory over Algeria. On June 24, Lionel Messi will turn 39. To break Ronaldo’s “oldest-player record,” he’d have to play in one more World Cup and hope that CR7 doesn’t follow suit by then. However, that’s hardly likely to be a motivator for Messi…

Reactions to the hat trick

Messi outshines everyone: “There are no words left”

You might also be interested in