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Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo notched a slew of goal-scoring milestones with his two strikes in the 4-0 victory over Uzbekistan.
Amidst all these records, a curious peak achievement involving the forward and opposing right-back Behruzjon Karimov went somewhat unnoticed. Ronaldo, at 41 years, 4 months, and 18 days old, faced off against the Uzbekistani, who is a mere 18 years, 10 months, and 16 days old. This staggering age difference of 22 years and 183 days sets a new record for a World Cup match.
This marked Cristiano's 24th World Cup appearance, placing him behind only Lothar Matthäus (25) and Lionel Messi (28) in this regard. In contrast, Karimov was playing only his second tournament match, having made his debut last week in his team's 3-1 loss to Colombia.
Furthermore, the Portuguese became only the third player to be both his country's youngest and oldest goalscorer at a World Cup. The other two are Argentina's Messi and Denmark's Michael Laudrup.
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