Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates with Portugal match-winner Conceicao… 21 years after replacing his dad
CRISTIANO RONALDO’S staggering longevity continues to create jaw dropping moments.
The 39-year-old shared the pitch with the son of the the star he replaced in the Portuguese national side during last night’s Euro 2024 win over the Czech Republic.
Ronaldo, who is representing Portugal in his 11th major tournament, celebrated as his side grabbed an injury time winner through Porto winger Francisco Conceicao.
And the 21-year-old’s last gasp goal will have been a strange moment for Ronaldo who actually replaced Conceicao’s father when he broke into the Portuguese national side back in 2003.
Sergio Conceicao, 49, made 56 appearances for the Portuguese national side bringing his international career to an end in 2003 after a new right winger burst onto the scene and took his place.
That right winger was an 18-year-old Ronaldo who made his debut just two months before Conceicao Sr played his final game.
However, despite their international careers lapping over by a few games, the pair never got the chance to play together.
Conceicao Sr retired from football altogether in 2010 and has since gone on to have a successful career in management.
The former Inter Milan and Lazio star has just left the role as Porto manager where he occupied the dugout for seven years – winning three league titles and eight domestic cups in Portugal.
And last season he even had the help of his son Francisco Conceicao whose performances earned him a call-up to the Portugal national team in April.
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Conceicao Jr is now playing for Roberto Martinez‘s Portugal side alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
But there is clearly no bitterness about the star stealing his dad’s place in the team some 21 years ago, with Ronaldo and Conceicao smiling together in celebration after the late winner against the Czech Republic.
Ronaldo has maintained an unbelievable level of fitness to see his career span such a long period of time.
And the goal scoring machine has racked up over 200 Portugal caps in the process.
His participation in Euro 2024 this summer is his sixth European Championships, making him the player to have played in the most Euros in history.
While his standards across those four competitions have also seen him earn the title as the all-time European Championship top scorer with 14 goals to his name.
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He will be hoping to extend that record this summer and could have some help from Conceicao Jr, who registered a hat-trick of assists in his second ever Portugal cap – a 4-2 win over Finland.
One record Ronaldo has had to wave goodbye to this year is the title he held as the youngest player to ever score on their European Championship debut.
That title was snatched off him by Turkey’s rising star Arda Guler (19yrs and 114 days) whose wonder strike against Georgia surpassed Ronaldo’s previous record of 19-years and 128 days set against Greece in 2004.
