Cristiano Ronaldo has turned his attention on the all-time international goalscoring record after hitting his 100th and 101st for Portugal in the 2-1 Uefa Nations League win away to Sweden.
Having missed Portugal's Nations League opener against Croatia with a toe injury, Ronaldo wasted no time on his return, scoring a first-half free kick and adding a second from open play in the 72nd minute to close in on Iranian Ali Daei's record of 109 international goals.
"I managed to beat this milestone of 100 goals and now (I'll go) for the record. It's step-by-step. I am not obsessed because I believe the records come in a natural way," Ronaldo, 35, said.
"When I had this problem in my toe I always knew that I could recover for this second game. I like to be here, with this group of players, coach, staff and knew that they would play well in the first game as our squad is too good and no one is irreplaceable."
Having netted five times in his previous encounters against Sweden, it was hardly surprising to see Ronaldo reach his century milestone against the Scandinavians.
"The future, only God knows. I am happy to play with these young players and I am enjoying a lot this moment both individually and collectively," he said.
While acknowledging health came first, he lamented the Covid-19 enforced empty stadium in Solna.
"It's sad playing without fans, it's like going to the circus with no clowns or into a garden with no flowers," Ronaldo said. "Speaking for myself, when I play away matches I like being whistled, it gives me motivation."
After making his first senior international appearance as an 18-year-old in 2003, Ronaldo notched up his first goal for Portugal in a 2-1 defeat by eventual winners Greece at Euro 2004.
Incredibly for Ronaldo, just 17 of his 100 goals have come in friendly matches, and his nine hat-tricks all came in Fifa or Uefa tournaments or qualifying games.
Over in France, Eduardo Camavinga became the youngest player to feature for the French national team in 96 years as Les Bleus won a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final over Croatia.
Midfielder Camavinga, aged 17 years and nine months, replaced N'Golo Kante in the second half and is only surpassed by Julien Verbrugghe, aged 16 years and 10 months in 1906, and Maurice Gastiger, at 17 years and 4 months in 1914.
France manager Didier Deschamps made seven changes from Saturday's win over Sweden in Solna with Wissam Ben Yedder and Anthony Martial leading the attack after Kylian Mbappe contracted Covid-19.
Antoine Griezmann, Dayot Upamecano, Olivier Giroud as well as an own goal from the visitors' goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic secured a repeat result from Russia two years ago after Dejan Lovren had opened the scoring for Croatia, Wolfsburg's Josip Brekalo adding their second in the 55th minute.
The 4-2 result sees the World Cup winners second on goal difference in Group 3 behind Portugal.
In Group 2, Fifa's top-ranked side Belgium, led superbly by Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, handed Iceland a 5-1 drubbing to follow up on their 2-0 win over Denmark.
Iceland actually opened the scoring through an 11th-minute deflected shot from Holmbert Fridjonsson.
But a reshuffled Belgium hit back almost immediately through Axel Witsel in the 13th minute, before a Michy Batshuayi double coupled with goals from Dries Mertens and Jeremy Doku combined to put the game out of sight.
Belgium's win moves them to the top of the group ahead of their trip next month to England, who played out an eventful 0-0 draw away to Denmark in Copenhagen.
