Cristiano Ronaldo is the record holder at the European Championships. The first player to be used in five European Championship matches was a superstar. The Juventus Turin star striker led the reigning champions Portugal as usual in the first group match against Hungary at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Tuesday evening. The 36-year-old completed his 22nd European Championship game and further expanded this record. The attacker now has a total of 176 internationals for Portugal.

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The five-time world footballer played his first European Championship game on June 12, 2004. At that time he was replaced at half time in the opening game of the home final in Portugal and eventually scored his team’s only goal with a 1: 2 lead against European champions Otto Rehagals Greece.

“CR7” chases another great record in Pan-European competitions: before the start of the European Championship, he scored 104 goals for Portuguese Selegao. Only five are missing from the record of former Bayern and Herta professional Ali Dain, who scored a total of 109 goals for the Iranian national team from 1993 to 2006. “I already said that I don’t chase records, records chase me,” he said before the Hungarian game. Before the start of the tournament Ronaldo had two more European Championship records: with 21 appearances in previous European Championships, he already holds the record. Previously, only Michael Platini had scored his nine goals.