The Goal Scoring Machine
Personal information
Full name: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Date of birth: 5 February 1985
Age: 30
Place of birth: Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position: Forward
Club information
Current team: Real Madrid
Number: 7
Youth career
1992–1995: Andorinha
1995–199: Nacional
1997–2002: Sporting CP
Senior career
2002–2003: Sporting CP 31 Appearances, 5 goals
2003–2009: Manchester United 292 Appearances, 118 goals
2009– Real Madrid 308 Appearances, 323 goals
National team
2001: Portugal U15 9 Appearances, 7 goals
2001–2002: Portugal U17 7 Appearances, 5 goals
2003: Portugal U20 5 Appearances, 1 goal
2002–2003: Portugal U21 10 Appearances, 3 goals
2004: Portugal U23 3 Appearances, 2 goals
2003– Portugal 122 Appearances, 55 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League brace against Malmo took him to 501 goals for club and country and level with Raul as Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer. Ronaldo’s remarkable goal haul has come in 753 appearances for Real Madrid, Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon and Portugal. The records continue to tumble for the FIFA World Player of the Year. Ronaldo’s recent scoring heroics have put him on 323 from 308 appearances for Madrid. His last goal equalled Raul’s tally despite the Portuguese having played over 400 fewer games.
Ronaldo’s recent five-goal haul against Espanyol and his treble against Shakhtar Donetsk took him to 37 hat-tricks for club and country, and he is also five goals clear of his arch rival, Lionel Messi in the Champions League, with 82 goals making him the competition’s all-time leading goalscorer. While the bulk of Ronaldo’s 500 goals have come in a Real Madrid shirt, he also reached triple figures for Manchester United. In six seasons at Old Trafford, Ronaldo smashed 118 goals, and he previously netted five times for Sporting Lisbon as a teenager.
Ronaldo’s lethal right foot has accounted for 326 of his total goal tally, with 90 coming on his left foot and 83 with his head. The 30-year-old can score all kinds of goals from all kinds of angles. Eighty-three of his total have come from outside the box, and he has also scored 81 penalties and 45 direct free kicks. Home advantage makes little difference to Ronaldo, whose 213 away goals account for 43 per cent of his total. He has scored 272 at home, with the final 16 coming in neutral locations. The stats also show that he is most dangerous between the 76th and 90th minute, a period in which he has scored 116 goals. His second-most prolific period is the 16th-30th minute, during which he has scored 87 times.
So who are Ronaldo’s favoured opposition? Every team is wary of the threat that Ronaldo possesses but it is Sevilla who must be sick of the sight of him. The Portuguese powerhouse has scored 21 times against the Andalusian side, while he also enjoys playing against Getafe, against whom he has scored 18 goals. Ronaldo also has a habit of scoring in the El Clasico, with 15 goals against Barcelona putting them joint-third with Atletico Madrid in his list of favoured opposition. As for English teams, Ronaldo has been most prolific against Aston Villa (nine goals) and Tottenham (eight). And what about top assist makers? Well, over the course of his career, no player has provided more goals for Ronaldo than Karim Benzema with 31. Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil ranks second having made 27 assists to Ronaldo during their four-year spell at the Bernabeu together. Manchester United flop Angel Di Maria assisted Ronaldo 22 times, while his current team-mate Gareth Bale is on 20. At Manchester United, Ryan Giggs was his top assister with 16, while Wayne Rooney was next on 10. His former United and current international team-mate Nani is just behind Rooney on nine assists.
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At international level, Ronaldo has 55 goals in 122 appearances for Portugal. Ronaldo’s teenage tears won the hearts of a nation as the hosts lost to Greece in the Euro 2004 final and came of age at the 2006 World Cup – converting the winning penalty in the quarter-final shootout victory over England. In Euro 2008 qualifying he was his nation’s top scorer and, though he managed just one goal at the tournament, he soon established himself as Portugal’s talisman and captain. The 2010 World Cup was expected to be Ronaldo’s chance to really steal the show on the greatest stage of them all but he wilted in South Africa, scoring just one goal as Portugal were eliminated by Spain in the round of 16. At Euro 2012, Ronaldo finally showed what he could do at a major tournament, taking Portugal to the semi-finals before an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Spain, in which the Real Madrid star did not even take a spot-kick, as his side had lost before he could take the fifth. Still he finished as joint-top scorer and then played a vital role in Portugal’s qualification for the 2014 World Cup. In a play-off against Sweden, he scored the winning goal in the first-leg and then a match-winning hat trick to send his team to Brazil. Portugal did not get past the last-16, as they were battered 4-0 by eventual winners Germany, but the 2014-15 season saw another Pichichi award arrive for the forward after an incredible 48 goals in 35 games.
Ronaldo’s most prolific season was in the 2011-12 campaign, when he scored 69 goals for club and country, and he has surpassed the 60-mark in each of his last two seasons. His appetite for goals is greater than ever and with Portugal top of the log in Group I in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, CR7 will be looking to add to his 501 goal tally.