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Enigmatic! Relentless! Inimitable!
On his 1095th appearance, Cristiano Ronaldo becomes only the second player to pass this ridiculous milestone in football history behind Josef Bican, who FIFA say reached 805!
Cristiano Ronaldo became just the second player in football history to score 800 career goals during Manchester United’s victory over Arsenal.
The legendary 36-year-old brought up this incredible milestone – which only Czech great Josef Bican is said to have reached (805+ from 1931 to 1957) according to FIFA records – by sweeping home inside the box to give his side a 2-1 lead.
And although Arsenal appeared to rain on his parade with Martin Odegaard’s immediate equaliser, Ronaldo scored a penalty with 20 minutes remaining to raise the Old Trafford roof once again as they sealed a 3-2 victory.
The former Real Madrid star has scored 801 goals from 1095 games for club and country since his debut in 2002 which means he’s well ahead of Romario (772 from 994), Pele (767 from 831), Lionel Messi (756 in 947), Ferenc Puskas (746 from 754) and Gerd Muller (734 from 793) in the all-time list.
Pele’s official competitive tally of 767 in 831 games is some way below his Guinness Record mark of 1,281 in 1,363 matches which includes many friendlies for Santos while Bican’s tally is often disputed due to lack of reliable records from the period in his career that was interrupted by World War II.
Nevertheless, there is no questioning the numbers Ronaldo and Messi have stacked up even if they seem from another planet.
At club level, he netted 118 times in 292 games during his first spell at Manchester United having started his career at Sporting Lisbon (5 goals in 31) before he brought that goal ratio right down during a trophy-laden and career defining era at Real Madrid, where he scored 450 goals in just 438 appearances.
Ronaldo continued to defy the ageing process during his new challenge in Italy with Juventus as he scored 101 times in 134 goals and now at the age of 36, he’s still banging them in during his Old Trafford return, scoring a further 12 goals in just 16 matches.
Of his career goals, 115 have come for Portugal in 184 games having broken Ali Daei’s long-standing international record of 109 earlier this season in a World Cup qualifier against Republic of Ireland while this summer he won Euro 2020 Golden Boot award with five goals – a campaign which saw him surpass Michel Platini as the all-time European Championship scorer with 14 goals.
His century goals emphasises his insane rate of scoring since he switched from being predominantly a playmaking winger at Manchester United at the start of the 2007/08 campaign. It took him 301 games to reach his first ton and 157 to reach his second, but after that his slowest century has been the eighth which took him 121 matches.
If these stats aren’t mesmerising enough, it’s worth noting how his advancing years have proved to be no barrier to his rapidly rising tallies and milestone moments.
Incredibly, 338 of his 801 goals have come in his 377 games since turning 30 in February 2015 and that’s compared to 463 in 718 before his 30th birthday.
And those goals have certainly counted for numerous trophies during his iconic career.
Ronaldo has 29 club titles, including a record five Champions Leagues, three Premier Leagues, a pair of La Ligas and two Serie A crowns while he’s lifted the European Championship and Nations League trophies with Portugal.
****The number of games Cristiano Ronaldo took to reach each century of goals…
‣ 1st 100 in 301 games
‣ 2nd 100 in 157
‣ 3rd 100 in 96
‣ 4th 100 in 99
‣ 5th 100 in 100
‣ 6th 100 in 102
‣ 7th 100 in 119
‣ 8th 100 in 121
…those last 700 came in 794 games!
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