MADRID — With his 900th career goal, Cristiano Ronaldo beat Luka Modric in the Nations League veterans’ clash on Thursday.

The 39-year-old Ronaldo became the first man to reach the 900-goal mark in official matches for club and country by scoring in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Modric’s Croatia.

Spain played their first match since their European Championship victory over Serbia, while San Marino won their first competitive match by beating Liechtenstein.

Ronaldo vs. Modric

Former Real Madrid teammates Ronaldo and Modric are nearing the end of their careers but are still going strong for their national teams. Modric turns 39 on Monday.

Ronaldo found the net in the 34th minute at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon to put Portugal ahead 2-1, putting his hands on his head and dropping to his knees in celebration.

It was Ronaldo’s 131st international goal.

He had just had a disappointing performance at the European Championship, failing to score a single goal in all five games for Portugal, but Portugal were knocked out on penalties by France in the quarter-finals.

Diogo Dalot had put Portugal ahead after just seven minutes and his own goal in the 41st minute made it 1-1.

Lewandowski strikes

Another veteran who made his mark on Thursday was 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski, who scored from the penalty spot in Poland’s 3-2 win over Scotland. Poland’s winning goal came with another penalty — converted by Nicola Zalewski — seven minutes into injury time.

Ronaldo, Modric and Lewandowski have played a combined 542 games for the national team and scored 239 goals up to this week.

Spain held

Spain drew 0-0 with Serbia for the first time since winning Euro 2024. La Roja have been the best team in Europe recently, having won the Nations League in 2023, Euro 2024 and the men’s gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Young stars Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, the stars of Euro 2024, were kept in check from the start.

Spain will then play an away match against Switzerland in Geneva.

San Marino finally wins

San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 to record their first ever league win thanks to a 53rd-minute goal from Nicko Sensoli.

San Marino, a tiny country surrounded by Italy, is ranked 210 — last — in the FIFA world rankings. Liechtenstein is not far ahead at 199.

The victory came in Group D1 of the competition.

Other results

Denmark defeated Switzerland 2-0 in Group A4. In League C, Sweden defeated Azerbaijan 3-1 and Northern Ireland won 2-0 against Luxembourg. Slovakia won 1-0 at Estonia and Belarus and Bulgaria drew 0-0.

The European qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup will be drawn in Zurich in December. The seedings are likely to be determined by the FIFA world rankings, which will be updated in November after the Nations League group stage has concluded.