2022 World Cup Top Goalscorer Odds: Cristiano Ronaldo to prove he is still one of the best at the 2022 World Cup
It’s fair to say that Cristiano Ronaldo has established himself as the greatest international player of all time. With 117 goals for Portugal in 191 appearances, Ronaldo leads the charts for the most goals in men’s international football surpassing Ali Daei’s record for Iran of 109 goals in 148 games. Ronaldo has also led his nation to European glory as they claimed the trophy at Euro 2016, he has also led them to a Nations League victory in 2019, the first of its kind.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo may not quite be living up to expectations for Manchester United this season, expect him to be coming into what could be his final World Cup with as much motivation as ever. Ronaldo’s international scoring record looks like one that won’t be beaten for a while and he can go even further clear of anyone else with a good World Cup campaign. The battle between him and Messi has been going on for what seems like the start of their careers and Lionel Messi will still be looking to chase down Ronaldo’s scoring record. The Argentine is 27 goals behind Cristiano, but with age on his side, it’s entirely possible that Messi catches up.
Leading all time international top scorers:
- Cirstiano Ronaldo: 117 goals
- Ali Daei: 109 goals
- Lionel Messi: 90 goals
- Mokhtar Dahari: 89 goals
- Ferenc Puskas: 84 goals
Euro 2020 saw Portugal only reach the Round of 16 where they suffered defeat to Belgium, but that didn’t stop Ronaldo making an impression on the tournament. The forward finished with five goals in four games for Portugal and also assisted once, boasting a goals per 90 rate of 1.25. Patrik Schick finished on the same goal tally as him with five but only managed a goal per 90 of 1.11 and failed to register an assist.
Ronaldo was priced at around 10/1 with most bookmakers to be the top scorer at Euro 2020 which he ultimately ended up sharing meaning your payout with most bookmakers would have been halved. Ronaldo finds himself at a bigger price to win the Golden Boot this tournament with him being priced at 16/1 to bring home another trophy to add to his collection.
Many are predicting Portugal to do quite well at the World Cup. They come into this tournament as the 8th favourite at 17/1 and with the squad they will be bringing, they certainly look a decent bit of value. Just to name a few players;
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Joao Cancelo
- Bruno Fernandes
- Ruben Dias
- Rafael Leao
Unfortunately, Diogo Jota will be missing the World Cup due to injury but you’d think that would only up the amount of goals Ronaldo will be scoring with Jota being prolific players in the Portuguese side. Jota managed to score 10 goals in 28 games for his nation, most of those coming in the last two seasons. Ronaldo was always going to be the main man for Portugal and would be on every penalty and free kick they get, but with one goal scoring threat leaving, you’d certainly fancy Ronaldo to be one of the only ones scoring goals for Portugal.
We saw in 2018 how important penalties are for goal scoring records at major international tournaments with Harry Kane bringing home the trophy and having 50% of his goals coming from the penalty spot. Similarly at Euro 2020 Ronaldo had 60% of his goals come this way and Ronaldo continues to be on penalty duty at the 2022 World Cup despite Bruno Fernandes taking their most recent penalty. In the 20/21 season Cristiano Ronaldo took six penalties for his country and scored five of them.
Cristiano Ronaldo also has an outstanding record for scoring hat-tricks for both club and country. He leads the way when it comes to the most international hat-tricks with 10 for his country. Most of his international hat-tricks have come against some fairly below par teams such as Luxembourg, Lithuania and Faroe Islands and whilst Portugal’s group at the World Cup consists of some decent teams like Uruguay and South Korea, you’d think he’d definitely be in with a chance of netting a few against Ghana.
Most international hat-tricks;
- Cristiano Ronaldo: 10
- Sven Rydell: 9
- Ali Mabkhout: 9
- Ali Daei: 8
- Lionel Messi: 8
If Harry Kane could win the Golden Boot last World Cup with three penalties and one hat-trick to his name, you’d certainly fancy Ronaldo’s chances at this tournament. 16/1 to win the Golden Boot in potentially his last major tournament could be a great bet.
