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FARO, Portugal — If anyone is still wondering whether Manchester United are getting a Cristiano Ronaldo whose best days are firmly behind him, just ask the shell-shocked Republic of Ireland players who thought they had denied him a goal-scoring world record in Estadio Algarve, only to see the Portugal captain smash it and then add to it in the space of seven crazy minutes at the end of a 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory.

Nobody does remarkable football drama quite like Ronaldo, but this historic night in Faro was up there with all of the great moments of his incredible career, largely because, for 89 minutes, he was having one of those nights when everything seemed to be going against him and his team. But at the end of it, he had claimed the international scoring record solely for himself having been locked on 109 goals alongside former Iran striker Ali Daei since netting twice against France at Euro 2020.

“I’m extremely happy, I needed one goal and I’ve scored two,” Ronaldo said. “I’m very happy for the two goals that gave us the victory and for breaking the record.

“This record is mine and it is unique. I’m extremely happy and it’s another one for my career. It’s about motivation and the desire I have to continue playing football, also from this last contract I made, in which I was happy to return home.

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“If we get up every day with the ambition to motivate and do better, to make the fans and our children happy, that is essential. It’s another record for the museum.”

Ronaldo is now on 111 goals for Portugal after scoring his 110th with a stunning header from an 89th-minute Goncalo Guedes cross. And the 36-year-old, who completed his return to United from Juventus on Monday, did it again with another header from close range in the sixth minute of stoppage time from Joao Mario‘s cross.

That goal prompted Ronaldo to race away in celebration, ripping off his top in the process. That led to him being yellow carded by referee Matej Jug; a booking that means he is suspended for Tuesday’s qualifier against Azerbaijan in Baku and therefore able to report earlier for duty at Old Trafford once again.

But while this ended up being a memorable occasion for the right reasons for Ronaldo, it could so easily have come to a shuddering halt after just 10 minutes.

With Portugal having been awarded a penalty following a Jeff Hendrick foul on Bruno Fernandes, Ronaldo grabbed the ball for the spot kick, sensing an easy opportunity to break the record. But at the same time, he lashed out at Ireland defender Dara O’Shea, who fell to the ground. Referee Jug was called to review the penalty decision by VAR, but for some reason, he was not asked to check the Ronaldo incident.

It was a very fortunate escape from a red card, but if Ronaldo thought his luck was in, he would have thought otherwise moments later when Ireland goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, a 19-year-old Manchester City player who was relegated to English football’s fourth tier while on loan at Rochdale last season, dived to his right to save Ronaldo’s penalty. That was the seventh penalty miss from 21 taken in Ronaldo’s Portugal career.

Whisper it, but United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might want to have a quiet word with his new signing about allowing Fernandes to continue as the first-choice spot-kick taker at Old Trafford. Good luck with that, Ole.

From the moment Bazunu saved his penalty, Ronaldo cut a frustrated figure. This really wasn’t how the script was supposed to play out, especially at a stadium where he had scored more goals (10) than anywhere else in his international career. This wasn’t one of the citadels of Lisbon or Porto, but an unremarkable stadium with two temporary stands on Portugal’s Algarve coast.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in the Algarve, the Portuguese Football Federation chose this venue to “contribute to the region’s economic recovery” because it is also the home to one of the largest expat Irish communities outside North America. But ongoing COVID measures saw the attendance restricted to just 7,831 supporters, with no travelling fans allowed, so when Sheffield United’s John Egan headed Ireland ahead just before half-time, it really did seem like the omens were against Ronaldo and Portugal.

A tactical switch by coach Fernando Santos at the start of the second half, which saw Ronaldo move to the left and substitute Andre Silva play through the centre, gave Ronaldo more freedom to create his own chances.

Fernandes, who struggles to impress with Portugal, once again found it difficult to make an impact, with Santos favouring the ball being played through Bernardo Silva. Neither Fernandes nor Silva seemed capable of getting the ball to their talisman and it was painful to watch at times as Ronaldo increasingly threw his arms in the air in exasperation.

As the game wore on, Ronaldo’s desperation to score became obvious, too. On three occasions, he saw long-range efforts blocked by Irish defenders and then saw Bazunu dive full stretch to push away an 89th-minute free kick.

But with the clock ticking and Ireland on course for a huge win in Group A, Ronaldo did what Ronaldo does: He made a decisive impact when all around him had virtually given up. His record-breaking goal was classic Ronaldo: a powerful leap and pinpoint header, and the stadium erupted in joy and relief.

But that wasn’t enough for Ronaldo. He may have achieved his personal target, but Portugal still needed a win to maintain control of their World Cup qualification hopes and he did it again in the 96th minute. Another cross from the right, another incredible leap and yet again, the ball nestled in the corner of the net.

That goal saw the stadium erupt. It was a sensational end to the game, but you get the impression with Ronaldo that it merely marked the start of something else.

He now has 111 goals in 180 games for Portugal, so it’s now on to the next target.

How about 120 goals and 200 games? Whatever he decides, don’t bet against him achieving it. That’s Ronaldo — he writes his own stories on a football pitch.

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Ohtani blasts 54th HR as Dodgers clinch NL West

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Ohtani blasts 54th HR as Dodgers clinch NL West

PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani matched his career high with his 54th home run, Freddie Freeman went deep twice and the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 12th National League West title in 13 years by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-0 on Thursday.

Ohtani’s homer splashed into Chase Field’s swimming pool behind the right-center wall for a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning. The two-run shot gave him 101 RBIs for the season and matched his career-best home run total with the World Series champion Dodgers last year. He has scored a big league-high 144 runs.

Los Angeles, which clinched a postseason berth last week, won its fourth straight division title.

Arizona (80-79) fell 1½ games behind the New York Mets (81-77) for the final NL wild-card spot and also is one game back of Cincinnati (81-78). The Diamondbacks close with three games at San Diego.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8) allowed four hits in six innings and struck out seven to finish with 201. His 2.49 ERA ranked second in the NL behind the 1.97 ERA of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.

Three relievers finished a five-hitter in the Dodgers’ 10th shutout.

Freeman and Andy Pages homered back to back starting the second inning, Freeman off opener Jalen Beeks (5-3) and Pages against Nabil Crismatt. Mookie Betts added a two-run single.

Freeman, who had three RBIs, has 23 homers while Pages has 27.

Arizona finished 43-38 at Chase Field. The crowd of 34,952 raised home attendance to 2,393,773, the Diamondbacks’ highest since 2008.

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Bochy’s Rangers future unclear as season ends

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Bochy's Rangers future unclear as season ends

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bruce Bochy is in the final games of his three-year contract with the Texas Rangers, a span that began with the franchise’s only World Series title, but baseball’s winningest active manager isn’t ready to discuss if he will be back next season.

“Season’s not over. It’s something we’ll talk about when the season’s over,” Bochy said before the Rangers lost 4-0 to Minnesota in their home finale Thursday. “So I’m going to stick with that right now and see if we can win a couple of games here.”

Both Bochy, who turned 70 this season, and Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, said they will talk about next season after this one is done. The Rangers, who will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row since that championship in 2023, finish with three games at Cleveland this weekend.

“The two of us will sit down and talk about where things are, what happened this year, where we’re going,” Young said. “There’s things that I’m sure he’s going to want to know about the future of the team and we’ll talk about it, like we did three years ago, and figure it out.”

Young, who pitched a season for Bochy in San Diego, was the Rangers general manager when he hired Bochy as manager after the 2022 season. They were coming off their sixth consecutive losing season, the longest streak in the half-century since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972.

At that time, Bochy had been out of managing for three seasons. He stepped away from the San Francisco Giants in 2019 after 13 seasons and three World Series titles, which followed 12 seasons and a National League pennant with the Padres.

“Just love him. He’s great. I love working with him. He’s been wonderful,” Young said. “He came here to win a World Series. He’s helped us accomplish that. And, you know, we’ll figure out what the future holds.”

Young didn’t have a timeline on how quickly a decision could be made after the season ends this weekend.

The Rangers (80-79) were eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday night when they lost their eighth straight game, but ended that losing streak the next night. They can still finish with a winning record, but would have to win two out of three against the playoff-chasing Guardians.

Bochy has a career record of 2,251-2,264 over his 28 seasons, with those wins ranking sixth among all managers – the five ahead of him are all in the Hall of Fame. No managers in the past 60 years have more than Bochy’s four World Series titles, and the only ones all-time with more are Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel and Connie Mack.

“Oh, I’ve really had a great time, and it’s as much fun as I’ve had in the game,” Bochy said of his three seasons back in the dugout. “I said this when I came back, you have a deeper appreciation when you’re out, especially for three years and you realize what you have, how blessed you are to be doing what you’re doing. It’s been a lot of fun and I still love it, and enjoy it.”

The only current MLB manager older than Bochy is 73-year-old Ron Washington with the Angels, though he hasn’t managed a game for the Angels since June 19 before he had quadruple bypass heart surgery.

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Horton ‘adament’ he can pitch, but Cubs unsure

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Horton 'adament' he can pitch, but Cubs unsure

CHICAGO — The Cubs were still evaluating the extent of starter Cade Horton‘s back injury on Thursday, leaving the National League Rookie of the Year candidate’s status for the wild-card playoff series in question.

Manager Craig Counsell said “Cade is on track still,” though an MRI on Wednesday showed “some areas of concern” in the ribs.

“Right now, Cade is a go,” Counsell said, adding that Horton is “adament he can pitch.”

Counsell said another physician will look at the imaging. Horton is scheduled to resume throwing on Friday after being off the past two days.

“We want to make sure we use this time to let Cade tell us how he feels, let Cade show us how he feels, consult our doctors and let them make recommendations and get the best decision we can make,” Counsell said.

Chicago will play the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League wild-card series on Tuesday. The Cubs’ magic number for clinching the top wild-card spot — and homefield advantage in the first round — was at two over Padres entering Thursday’s game against the playoff-contending New York Mets.

Horton is 11-4 in 22 starts and 23 appearances. The 24-year-old right-hander has a 2.67 ERA that ranks second among qualified rookies.

Horton left Tuesday’s start against New York after three innings due to back tightness. He was sick following his previous start and had been coughing, which led to the issues in the back and ribs.

Counsell said the Cubs won’t announce their postseason rotation until next week.

“We’re at this phase where we’re starting to put plans into place,” Counsell said. “We have multiple ones. We’ve got four baseball games left, which affects things.”

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