Ronaldo hails record as 'another special moment'

• Cristiano Ronaldo cites "another special moment" in becoming leading EURO goalscorer
• Portugal coach Fernando Santos praises his team's calm approach
• Bernard Challandes admits his Armenia side cannot compete at Portugal's level  
• Next games: Portugal v Serbia, Albania v Armenia (29 March)

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal captain
We all knew it would be a very difficult match as Armenia did not intend to risk anything with two defensive lines of four and two up front. We tried to create good opportunities and we've missed some other chances. The 1-0 was a narrow result but the team were very good as the most important thing was the three points.

I knew it [becoming the leading scorer in UEFA European Championship history] would happen sooner or later and I was not obsessed with that because I will play many more games for the national team. But of course I am happy, mainly because I broke the record in Portugal in front of our supporters. It is another special moment for me and I am certain it will be in my gallery.

We are in good shape at the moment in qualifying; Denmark also won, but the team are doing very well at the moment and if we win our game in hand we go top. The coach Fernando Santos has been able to impose a new system – bringing new players – and I think we are on the right track.

Fernando Santos, Portugal coach
I wasn't expecting it to be easy. I saw their matches against Serbia and Denmark and they defended a lot and then had two or three players in attack.

I believe we started well and I knew we needed to be patient. We had a good first 15 minutes and if we had scored, the match would have been easier. Armenia started to believe that the 0-0 could happen and had a dangerous counterattack. We also got many bookings but the team were calm when they needed to be, when we had possession.

It [Ronaldo's record] has great meaning for him, for the national team, for the country and of course for me as head coach.

Marcos Pizzelli, Armenia midfielder
We played a good match, just lacking a little bit of attention at the back, mainly for Ronaldo's goal. We already knew that Portugal would be very attacking so we tried to play on the break. We also missed some good chances to score and paid the price.

Our main aim was to score first, probably on the counter. Unfortunately that didn't happen and our playing more defensively made Portugal throw many balls into our area – in one of those situations they ended up scoring via Ronaldo, a player who does not miss in the box.

I am sure we can play even better in front of our fans – I think we can play a little bit more offensively against Portugal and who knows, we could spring a surprise. Our expectations are still high in qualifying despite the fact things are a little more complicated now.

Bernard Challandes, Armenia coach
I congratulate Portugal on their victory and my team as well because of our performance. We played with courage but Portugal were better. We are annoyed with the goal we conceded as it was a stupid goal. We had the ball, we didn't clear it and then we lost it to Quaresma. We could have conceded others but, for what we did, we could have earned a point. We played well and we'll be better in future.

Today we faced a Portugal side that played with two offensive full-backs and three attackers, so our defence did well; we showed stability. The problem was not our defence, but the building process. We couldn't get the ball, we couldn't take it forward. We played many long balls that, against players like Pepe or Ricardo Carvalho, we had no chance with. We have to work and learn from these things in order to improve.

Portugal have the best player with the world, they are a good team. We cannot compete with them at the same level, especially away. We cannot have the ball and play face-to-face with them. That said, we had three, four or five chances to cause danger.