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Picture Credit: Twitter

While Cristiano Ronaldo managed to break the much-awaited international goal-scoring record in Portugal's Group A clash against Ireland in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, he was earlier lucky enough to escape a red card. While the Portugal captain did miss out on an opportunity to convert a penalty early in the match, just before he was about to take the kick, he was caught slapping Ireland's Dara O'Shea on the shoulder.

Ever since "Ronaldo slap" has been trending on social media, however, with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner managing to surpass Iran’s Ali Daei to become the highest-ever international goalscorer later in the match, the noise around the debatable act did get a little subdued.

The video of the incident has also gone viral. Have a look:

While the video clip shows Ireland's O'Shea kicking the ball away just as Ronaldo placed the ball for the spot-kick, he might have done it with an intention to distract the legendary player. However, CR7 wasn't kind at all and retaliated with a slap on the shoulder. While several netizens believe that Ireland's Dara O'Shea deserved the slap for his actions and later his theatrics of holding his face in his hand to draw the attention of the referee, others believe that Ronaldo escaped a Red Card because of his reputation.

Meanwhile, the new Manchester United recruit's historic milestone, which was being looked forward to ever since the start of the competition, came in the 89th minute when the Portuguese forward scored a goal to level the score 1-1. The 36-year-old added another goal six minutes into stoppage time to take his tally of goals to 111 in 180 matches.

"I’m very happy, not only because I beat the record but for the special moments that we had," Ronaldo said after the match. "Two goals at the end of the game is so tough, but I have to appreciate what the team did. We believed until the end," he added.

Although Ireland had taken the lead in the 45th minute with John Egan finding the back of the nets, the Irish dreams were shattered with Ronaldo finding a way to score a brace and take Portugal home, despite missing out on a penalty early on.