Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of scoring 1000 career goals has been given a big boost.
Already the first male player to notch a total of 900 goals for club and country, the 40-year-old has grand ambitions to hit the milestone four-figure mark.
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Of Ronaldo’s 924 goals to date, 135 of them have come at international level for Portgual.
But that tally could rise rather quickly thanks to an intriguing appointment.
Portugal boss Roberto Martinez has brought in Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee to his staff.
The Scot replaces Anthony Barry, who joined England as one of Thomas Tuchel’s assistants on January 1.
It marks MacPhee’s return to the international arena after he stepped down from his role as Scotland’s set-piece coach in September.
MacPhee made the decision to quit due to his father’s illness and desire to spend more time with his family.
Luckily for Villa, MacPhee will remain with Unai Emery‘s side and only link up with Portugal during international breaks.
MacPhee has previously worked with Northern Ireland, Hearts and Danish side Midtjylland.
The 45-year-old is widely regarded as one of the shrewdest minds when it comes to devising effective set pieces.
Under MacPhee, Villa scored 25 goals from set pieces last season.
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That figure was higher than any other team from Europe’s top five leagues.
This term, Villa have scored nine league goals from set pieces, the equal-second most in the Premier League.
The Villans also have the second-highest expected goals (xG) figure from set pieces in the top flight this season behind only Arsenal.
Defensively, Villa have conceded five goals off of set pieces from an xG figure of 5.66.
Only Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Brentford and Manchester City have conceded fewer.
MacPhee’s first task as Portugal’s new set-piece coach is on March 20 when Martinez’s side travel to Denmark for the first leg of their Nations League quarter final clash.
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They then meet in Portugal three days later for the second leg.
Under Martinez, Portugal made it to the quarter-final stage of Euro 2024 before they were dumped out by France in a heartbreaking penalty shootout.
