Portugal great Eusebio should not be saddened by ‘normal’ comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo because records are meant to be broken, Ronaldo said yesterday after Eusebio confessed to being upset by a public discussion on who is the best.

A wide debate erupted in the football-crazed country when Ronaldo (28) overtook 71-year-old Eusebio last month to go second on the country’s list of top marksmen.

“I think it’s not worth going that way (feeling sad), records are meant to be broken. We should not be sad,” he told reporters at the medieval town of Obidos, where the national squad is training, when asked about Eusebio’s reaction.

“I feel easy because Eusebio will always be Eusebio and Cristiano will be Cristiano. It’s normal that people compare us but Eusebio should not be sad because he’ll always be up there.”

Ronaldo reached 43 goals in 106 internationals after his hat-trick earned Portugal a 4-2 comeback win over Northern Ireland in last month’s World Cup qualifier. Eusebio said he was subject to an unfair comparison because he had played fewer matches than Ronaldo. The ‘Black Panther’ scored 41 goals in 64 matches.

Ronaldo said he wanted to keep rewriting football’s history books. “What I want is to try and play 100 more games with Portugal because nobody will be sad this way,” said Ronaldo, who will probably also beat Luis Figo’s record of 127 international caps.

Ronaldo has the chance to add to his tally tomorrow in the home qualifier against Israel as Portugal seek to secure at least second place in Group F and a berth in the play-offs for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

Ronaldo is expected to continue his record breaking as he is only four goals behind top scorer Pauleta and 21 matches away from the most-capped player Luis Figo.