Cristiano Ronaldo breaks record on night of Greek tragedy

Ronaldo’s winner against Armenia meant Portugal stayed one point behind group leaders Denmark.

Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute to take his tally across Euro finals and qualifying to 23 goals. (Source: AP)

Cristiano Ronaldo became the European Championships’ all-time top scorer by giving Portugal a 1-0 victory over Armenia, while Germany could only beat Gibraltar 4-0 as their World Cup victory hangover continued on Friday.

Portugal captain Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute to take his tally across Euro finals and qualifying to 23 goals. Denmark’s Jon Dahl Tomasson and Turkey’s Hakan Sukur had previously scored 22 goals each.

Germany were looking for a high score against Gibraltar, a territory of just 30,000 people which is playing its first qualifying tournament and had already lost 7-0 to both Ireland and Poland in Group D. However, there were whistles from some fans at full-time after watching the World Cup holders labour against a defensively set-up side made up mostly of amateurs.

Convincing in Brazil during the summer, Germany had been held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland and beaten 2-0 by Poland in their two previous Euro 2016 qualifiers. They also lost 4-2 to Argentina in a friendly repeat of the World Cup final in September.

Elsewhere, Greece slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to the Faroe Islands and Denmark came from behind to beat Serbia 3-1.

Ronaldo’s winner against Armenia meant Portugal stayed one point behind group leaders Denmark. The Real Madrid star struck from close range following a goalmouth scramble.

Thomas Mueller scored twice as Germany got their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back on track with an unconvincing 4-0 win over Gibraltar. Mueller opened the scoring in the 12th minute and claimed his second 17 minutes later. Mario Goetze made it 3-0 in the 38th, before an own goal from Yogan Santos completed the scoring in the 67th.

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Germany remain three points behind Group D leader Poland, who won 4-0 in Georgia. Scotland meanwhile who beat Ireland 1-0 in Glasgow, to move level on points with Ireland and Germany.