- Cristiano Ronaldo has had one of the greatest careers in football history.
- He’s broken multiple records all over the world throughout the years.
- Most recently, he broke the record for the most goals scored in a single Saudi Pro League season.
Cristiano Ronaldo and breaking records are two things that just go hand in hand. The 39-year-old has countless of them and last night he managed to notch yet another to his incredible talent.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was at the double for Al-Nassr in a 4-2 victory over Al-Ittihad. That brought his tally to 35 league goals for the season, a new Saudi Pro League record. As incredible as this achievement is, it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of how many accolades the 39-year-old has to his name.
With records almost everywhere he has been, these are just a collection of some of Ronaldo’s finest accomplishments of his storied career.
Fastest Player to 100 Goals for Any Club
105 games (Real Madrid)
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that this won’t be the only Real Madrid record Ronaldo holds. However, this one is a good indication as to just how quickly the Portuguese superstar was able to dominate in Spain.
Having established himself as one of the biggest talents in the world at Manchester United, the then winger took to La Liga like a duck to water and began scoring at a rapid rate. He reached his first century for Los Blancos in just 105 appearances, quicker than any other player in history. The next closest would be Luis Suarez, who took 120 games to reach the same total.
Ronaldo also sits joint fifth in this ranking too thanks to his 100 goals in 131 games for Juventus.
Most Champions League wins in the 21st Century
Five (2007/08, 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18)
On paper, this is perhaps a record that should have even more prominence on this list. Winning five Champions League titles is no mean feat after all. Not only has Ronaldo done that, but he has also been pivotal in all of them, including scoring in three of the five finals.
Whilst this is an impressive record, it is one that the former Los Blancos star actually shares with some of his teammates. Former frontman partner Karim Benzema also has five, and the same can be said for Dani Carvajal and Luka Modric. With the latter two set to play against Borussia Dortmund in the 2024 final, this may actually be a record that Ronaldo has to relinquish.
Oldest Player to Score 15+ Goals in a Premier League Season
Manchester United (2021/2022)
Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford was the stuff of dreams. Manchester United fans had been clamouring for their prodigal son to step foot back on the Theatre of Dreams’ hallowed turf and in 2021 the wait was finally over. Sadly, things turned into more of a nightmare, as the Red Devils would struggle and Ronaldo himself would depart within 18 months of his re-debut.
What he did do, though, was prove he was still capable of scoring goals at the highest level. In what many believe is the toughest league in the world, the man in his late thirties notched up 18 Premier League goals, becoming the oldest player to surpass a total of 15 since Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the process.
Most European Championship Tournaments
Five (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)
There is no one who is more synonymous with the European Championships than Cristiano Ronaldo. In the five tournaments he has featured in, Portugal’s greatest-ever export has reached two finals. The first came in 2004 but ended in heartbreak. Underdogs Greece shocked the host nation to cause an unlikely upset in the final.
Fast forward 12 years, and this time it was Ronaldo’s turn to be the underdog. He may have gotten injured early on, but he led his team from the sidelines as Portugal won their first-ever major tournament. Euro 2024 could be Ronaldo’s sixth and final inclusion, so he will be hoping to make it a memorable one.
Most Goals in Euros and World Cups Combined
22 goals
It’s all well and good being selected for all these major tournaments, but a truly great player will leave his mark on proceedings. With his goalscoring record across his Euros and World Cup appearances, there can be no doubt that CR7 has done just that.
In the 10 major tournaments Ronaldo has featured in, he has managed to rack up a total of 22 strikes (14 in European Championships, 8 in World Cups). Some of his most famous include his legendary hat-trick against Spain in the 2018 World Cup and a double against Hungary in the delayed Euro 2020 which saw him surpass Michel Platini as the outright top scorer in competition history.
Real Madrid Top Scorer
450 Goals
Expectations may have been high when Ronaldo arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009 for a world record fee. By the time he left, he had done more than enough to etch his name into the record books at one of the most famous clubs.
Cementing his legacy as one of the greatest of all time, the goalscoring machine left Madrid almost a decade later having scored 450 times in just 438 appearances. He doesn’t just stand alone, but miles ahead of his next challenger. That being Karim Benzema who sits 96 strikes behind his former teammate.
Most Champions League Goals
140 Goals
When Ronaldo made the groundbreaking decision to complete a move to Saudi Arabia, he admitted that his career in Europe had come to an end. It was an inevitable yet sad declaration from the man who once had a stranglehold on the continent’s greatest competition.
He left Europe having scored 140 goals in the Champions League, more than the likes of Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.Kylian Mbappe is currently the biggest threat to this crown given how much of his career is left to pan out, but even the French superstar still has 92 goals left to just tie with his idol.
Most International Goals
128 Goals
There have only ever been three men in history to have scored more than a ton of international goals. Lionel Messi is one. Ali Daei of Iran is another. But sitting at the top of the tree is none other than CR7 himself.
Arguably the greatest marksman to ever play the game, Ronaldo has an astonishing 128 goals for his country, having scored in his teens, his twenties and his thirties. Who’s to say there’s anything stopping him from scoring in his forties either? The temptation to play in one last World Cup might just make that a possibility.
Most International Caps
206 Caps
Some of Ronaldo’s biggest detractors may say that the reason he has been able to score so many goals at international level is because he has had plenty of opportunities to do so. If you take a deeper look into that argument though, you begin to see how flawed it is.
Criticising Europe’s most potent finisher for winning 206 caps is laughable. This is especially the case when you consider that there has never been another player to reach a double century in football history. Being able to operate at the highest level for two decades is a testament to Ronaldo’s talent and unmatched work ethic.
886 Goals
Pele might claim to have scored more, but the history books show that Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer to have ever lived. In total, the forward has managed to find the net 886 times in total. A strong performance at this summer’s Euros and Ronaldo might have his eyes on the magical 900 mark early next season.
Given how motivated the legendary figure is by records, he will likely have already had the mythical 1000 landmark in his sights. Time will only tell if and when he will reach that figure. But if he doesn’t he will likely sit at the top of this pile for the rest of time.
| Cristiano Ronaldo’s career statistics | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 1218 |
| Goals | 886 |
| Assists | 284 |
