Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. scored his first goal for Portugal’s U16 team against Wales over the weekend, taking his international tally to three at youth team level while still aged just 15.
Ronaldo Sr. hadn’t made his first appearance for any organized international setup by the time he was 15. The legendary forward had to wait until three weeks after his 16th birthday to turn out for Portugal’s U15 side in February 2001, although he did mark that debut with a goal against South Africa.
A series of injuries had delayed Ronaldo’s international call-up and it took the insistence of Aurélio Pereira, his coach at Sporting CP, to convince Carlos Dinis that this spindly winger was worthy of some minutes. He didn’t fare too badly—though the same cannot be said for his teammates that day.
Of the starting XI which lined up against South Africa in Torres Novas 24 years ago, Ronaldo was the only one to earn a single senior cap. He has thus far amassed 225 appearances for Portugal, racking up a staggering 143 goals along the way, but that precedent should serve as a word of warning for his son’s ambitions.
Ronaldo Jr. is a physically imposing teenager, already towering over his father. “When I was his age, he is a little bit bigger and stronger. I was smaller. I think he will be bigger than me,” Ronaldo Sr. correctly predicted during an appearance on last season.
During one memorable cameo in the documentary filmed about his father in 2015, Ronaldo Jr. tells his dad that he wants to be a goalkeeper, much to Cristiano Sr.’s evident horror. That aspiration never came to pass, and the teen lined up for his country on the left wing against Wales on Saturday, sweeping a first-time right-footed finish into the bottom corner.
Portugal U16 and their high-profile forward will be back in action against England on Tuesday.
