Enner Valencia, the Ecuadorian striker who in Qatar 2022 surpasses Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in effectiveness

Ecuador came to the World Cup Qatar 2022 having as one of its top stars Enner Valencia. The 33-year-old footballer was not weighed down by the responsibility and has been living up to it. He had already shown it with his two goals in his debut against the weak Qatar and now he also appeared to break the nets of a giant like the Netherlands.

At 49 minutes into the game, Pervis Estupiñán entered the Dutch area and did not hesitate to take a left-footed shot that saw a net destination. His shot was blocked by goalkeeper Andries Noppert, who left the ball served so that Valencia only had to push the ball and declare the tie at the Khalifa International Stadium.

With this score, the Fenerbahce man marked his third conquest in this tournament -top scorer at the moment- and reached six in his World Cup appearances. We remember that in Brazil 2014 he was present on the scoreboard against Honduras (2) and Switzerland.

already made history

Scoring six goals in five games is something that only eleven players have been able to achieve so far. Among the most prominent names are Pelé (Brazil), Eusebio (Portugal), Just Fontaine (France), Gerd Müller (Germany) and an old acquaintance of the Peruvian National Team, Teofilo Cubillas. Well, Enner Valencia is already part of this select list.

Lo Enner goes further. He will even be able to afford to say in the future that he was more efficient in the World Cups than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two big stars barely scored a goal in their first five appearances in World Cup tournaments. The Ecuadorian also prevails in average goal per game (1.2), surpassing what was done by the Argentine (0.35) and the Portuguese (0.44).

At the level of his selection he has also established a milestone. He is the footballer who has scored the last six goals for the northern team in World Cups. This only happened with three other teams: Portugal (Eusebio-1966), Italy (Paolo Rossi-1982) and Russia (Oleg Salenko-1994). If no one but Enner scores on the next matchday against Senegal, the San Lorenzo-born man will be the only one with this distinction.

At 33 years old, Enner Valencia has shown that he is more current than ever. Perhaps it will be his last World Cup appearance and he knows that with Gustavo Alfaro’s team he can make history. Today against the Netherlands they already gave some light that they can be the big surprise of the tournament. Attentive with Ecuador and, above all, with the ‘9’.