Cristiano Ronaldo: Champions League the tonic for Real Madrid forward
The Portugual international has scored eight times in five matches in Europe, the same amount as in 2013-14, when he finished with a record-breaking 17 goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo is enduring a barren spell in LaLiga, but the Champions League has been his tonic. The Real Madrid forward has scored eight goals in this edition of Europe’s top club competition (two goals in each match against APOEL, two in Dortmund, and two against Tottenham).
Cristiano matches best Champions League figures
Ronaldo had scored the same amount of goals after five matches in the 2013-14 Champions League, in which he went on to score a record-breaking 17 goals.
In his first season at the Bernabéu (2009-10), Ronaldo scored three goals in his first five matches, a figure that he matched in the two subsequent seasons (2010-11 and 2011-12). That rose to five in 2012-13, and up again to eight in 2013-14. That constituted a peak for the No.7. He scored four in 2014-15, seven in 2015-16, and two last season.
LaLiga and Champions League difference stark
Despite his sluggish start to the domestic season, Ronaldo has scored as many across all competitions as at the same point in the last campaign: ten. He went on to finish 2016-17 with 42 goals in LaLiga, the Champions League, the Copa del Rey, and the Club World Cup.
There is a stark discrepancy between Ronaldo’s records in the league and in Europe. In LaLiga he has scored one goal with a shot effectiveness of 1.8 percent, while in the Champions League he has found the net eight times with a rate of 24.2 percent. The escapades across Europe have had a resuscitative effect.
