Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the first player in football history to score 900 goals after his cool finish gave Portugal a 2-0 lead against Croatia.
What looked like a typical Ronaldo goal – the icon lurking at the far post to fire home a clever cross from the left – turned out to be a memorable moment as the 39-year-old passed this incredible mark in his national jersey.
Rafael Leao dropped back on the left to collect the ball, while the former Real Madrid player waited in the penalty area along with Bruno Fernandes.
The AC Milan star then delivered a pinpoint pass that was just waiting to be shot into the goal – and “CR7” complied and ran off the pitch cheering, probably aware of what he had just achieved.
Although Croatia managed to pull one back thanks to an own goal from Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot, this Nations League match will be remembered for another historic moment created by the Portuguese football legend.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player in football history to score 900 goals
He scored most of his goals for Real Madrid, where he scored 450 goals.
What looked like a typical Ronaldo goal today, as the icon lurked at the far post to shoot a clever cross from the left, turned out to be a momentous one
According to Transfermarkt, Ronaldo scored his very first goal for Sporting Lisbon in a league match against Moreirense on October 7, 2002, with a solo run.
But even a man of his extremely confident nature could not have predicted that 22 years later he would still be scoring goals and breaking the 900 mark.
It took Ronaldo just over five years to reach the 100-goal mark, a milestone he achieved with a penalty against Tottenham on 27 January 2008.
Seven years later, the striker surpassed his 500th goal-scoring opportunity thanks to a goal against Malmö in the group stage of the Champions League on 30 September 2015.
It’s hard to believe, but it took him less than nine years to complete the remaining 400, making him the first person to be 90 percent of the way to 1,000 strikes.
His long-time rival Lionel Messi is the only other player to surpass the 800-goal mark, having scored a total of 838 goals for his club and country.
The numbers behind Ronaldo’s unprecedented performance are breathtaking: wherever the Portuguese superstar traveled during his long career, he scored goals.
It is noteworthy that the striker has scored 130 goals for his national team alone, with his first goal coming in a 2-1 defeat to Greece in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship.
Remarkably, the striker scored 130 goals for his beloved national team alone
Ronaldo scored his first goal for Sporting Lisbon in a league match against Moreirense on 7 October 2002.
He scored 145 goals for Manchester United in 346 games between 2003 and 2009
He scored more than a goal per game for Los Blancos, scoring 450 goals in 438 games during his nine years with the team.
He had previously scored 145 goals in 346 games for Man United between 2003 and 2009.
Ronaldo even surpassed the 100-goal mark for Juventus, even though he has only been in Italy for three years.
And he hasn’t even played as a pure striker for most of his career.
In fact, the football icon scored most of his dizzying goals from the left wing, a total of 362 times from this position.
He has now scored 285 goals as a centre-forward and a further 83 goals on the right wing.
Ronaldo’s favourite competition is La Liga. He has scored 311 goals in 292 games in the Spanish league, but his staggering 140 goals in the Champions League are perhaps the most impressive and will surely never be surpassed.
Whether the legend can reach a four-figure sum remains to be seen, as the footballer is currently more focused on life off the pitch.
Ronaldo has scored goals of all kinds, including a famous overhead kick against Juventus in 2018.
He then even surpassed the 100-goal mark for Juventus, although he had only been in Italy for three years
He now plays for the Saudi Arabian team Al Nassr, where he continues to score goals for fun.
To build a closer connection with his fans around the world, the Portuguese superstar launched his latest project on the video-sharing platform and has already gained more than 15 million subscribers.
The channel will feature 19 videos, the most popular of which is titled: “Learn ALL about us. Who will win?” The content will mainly focus on his life away from the football pitch, featuring his wife Georgina Rodriguez and son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.
But even though his dazzling career is slowly coming to an end, it would be typical of the icon who is considered by many to be the greatest the game has ever seen if he were to play another five years and reach the 1,000-goal mark.
