Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo has reached a new milestone in his career this week, 750 goals for club and nation.
Juventus forward Ronaldo netted one goal against Ukrainian opponents Dynamo Kyiv as the Italian club won Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League match 3-0 in Turin.
The goal was the 35-year-old’s 750th one in his career.
Mainly playing in the left flank, Ronaldo is a former Real Madrid star, scoring 450 goals for the Spanish powerhouse in 2009-2018.
In his six-year-spell in England’s Manchester United (2003-2009), Ronaldo tallied 118 goals for the Red Devils.
A Juventus player since 2018, Ronaldo scored 75 goals for the Italian club.
In the 2002-03 season, Ronaldo earned a promotion to the Sporting CP senior squad to score five goals for his boyhood club.
In addition to his 648 club goals, Ronaldo, captain of his national team, has 102 goals for Portugal.
Career full of cups
Ronaldo is a five-time Champions League winner (four with Real Madrid in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018). He first claimed this title with Manchester United in 2008.
He bagged the English Premier League title with Manchester United for three years in a row (2007, 2008, and 2009).
He won the Spanish La Liga twice with Real Madrid (2012 and 2017).
In 2018, Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus, where he became the Italian champion twice (2019 and 2020).
His nation has been cherishing Ronaldo, as he guided Portugal to win its first-ever major title, the UEFA EURO 2016.
Portugal won against hosts France 1-0 in the 2016 final to be Europe’s number one.
1Rivalry with Messi
Ronaldo and his rival Barcelona’s Argentine superstar Lionel Messi have been challenging each other in the field of goal figures for a long time.
Messi and Ronaldo are the most prolific forwards in modern times.
The 33-year-old Barcelona skipper Messi has 712 goals in his career.
A pure Barcelona product, Messi scored 641 goals for Barcelona since 2005, after earning his promotion from Barcelona B team to the senior squad.
He had 71 goals for the Argentine national team.
Messi helped Barca win 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League trophies (2006, 2009, 2011, and 2015).
The Argentine forward has so far dedicated his whole career to Barcelona.
Bican had 805 goals to be all-time top scorer
With 750 goals, Ronaldo got closer to a former Czech-Austrian forward, Josef Bican, who scored 805 career goals.
European football’s governing body, UEFA, previously said Czech-Austrian forward Bican is still the all-time top scorer with approximately 805 career goals but played the game between the 1930s and 1950s.
“The top scorer of all time is generally accepted to be Czech-Austrian legend Josef Bican, whose final haul, albeit including reserve fixtures and games outside the top flight, is around 805,” UEFA said.
Bican died in 2001 at the age of 88.
“[Former Brazilian forwards] Romario and Pele both ended their careers with tallies well into the 700s,” UEFA says.