SOCCER
Five Cristiano Ronaldo records that might never be broken
As Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his 39th birthday, we take a look at a quintet of historic CR7 achievements that may remain forever unsurpassed.
1. 50 goals in six consecutive seasons
With Cristiano Ronaldo and long-time rival Lionel Messi now in the twilight years of their careers, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé have emerged as the leaders of the next generation of prolific marksman. However, they’ll be hard pushed to break a Ronaldo scoring record that has remained out of reach of even Messi.
For six straight years between the 2011/12 and 2015/16 campaigns, the Portuguese scored at least 50 goals a season in all competitions for Real Madrid: 53, 60, 55, 51, 61 and 51.
2. Highest international goalscorer
Since September 2021, Ronaldo has held the distinction of being the highest ever scorer in men’s international soccer. The Al Nassr star overtook the record previously held by Iran’s Ali Daei when he netted his 110th goal for Portugal in a World Cup qualifier against Ireland, before adding a 111th as the Seleçao earned a last-gasp, come-from-behind win over the Irish.
The Euro 2016 winner now has 128 goals in 205 Portugal caps - and is likely to add to that haul, given that he seemingly has no intention of calling time on his international career just yet. Messi is Ronaldo’s closest active challenger: the Inter Miami forward has scored 106 times in 180 appearances for Argentina.
3. Full house of trophies - with two clubs
There aren’t many players who have completed a clean sweep of career winners’ medals with just one club. Messi won every trophy available during his illustrious spell in the Barcelona first team, but Ronaldo went one better, completing the full set of silverware with two clubs: Manchester United and Real Madrid.
At both Old Trafford and the Bernabéu, the forward lifted the league title, the domestic cup, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup at least once each.
Watch - Al Nassr team-mates surprise CR7 with birthday cake:
4. Champions League scorer supreme
Scoring 10 goals in a single Champions League season is a tall enough order, so imagine doing it in seven different campaigns. During his time at Madrid, Ronaldo hit double figures in Europe’s top men’s club competition every year between the 2011/12 and 2017/18 seasons. The five-time Ballon d’Or recipient boasts an unmatched 140 career goals in the Champions League, 11 ahead of Messi in second.
5. Real Madrid’s top marksman
Having plundered an eye-watering 451 goals in 438 games for Madrid in his 2009-2018 stint in the Spanish capital, Ronaldo is Los Blancos’ all-time leading scorer by an absolute mile. Second-placed Karim Benzema registered almost 100 goals fewer - 354 - before leaving the club last summer.
The highest-scoring current Real Madrid player is Vinícius Júnior, who has 70 goals for the 14-time European champions.