5 Greatest career achievements of Cristiano Ronaldo
There are only a select few things that Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to achieve in his illustrious career. The iconic Portuguese went from being a wiry, fleet-footed teenager to the best player in the world, and now, arguably one of the best players in the history of the beautiful game.
Ronaldo has displayed a unique ability to feed on criticism and fuel his performances with it. Even at the age of 35, after a lacklustre start to the league season with five goals in ten games, he made his critics think again with a blitz of goals and stunning performances over the next 23 league games he played in.
The 35-year-old scored a whopping 26 goals in those 23 games, firing Juventus to their ninth consecutive title.
This is a cycle that the Portuguese's faithful are very aware of. Ronaldo always strikes back and does so in emphatic fashion whenever he's begun a campaign slowly.
With UEFA Champions Leagues, Ballons d'Or, and a staggering number of goals, Ronaldo very well makes an undeniable case for being one of the greatest ever. Here, we take a look at five of the Portuguese legend's most significant achievements in what has been a magnificent career.
#5 Highest scorer in UCL history
Out of the catalogue of records that Ronaldo has shattered, this is, perhaps, the most impressive one. While many greats of the game have broken records for their clubs and domestic leagues, Ronaldo took it a few steps forward by doing so on the biggest stage that club football has to offer.
The 35-year-old is the leading goalscorer in the history of the UEFA Champions League, and became the first of only two players to surpass 100 UCL goals. The second was his eternal rival Lionel Messi, who has 114 to his name. Ronaldo has a total of 129 goals in Europe, 128 of which came in the premier competition itself and the other in the qualifying rounds.
The former Manchester United forward also holds the distinction of being the player with the most number of goals in a single UCL campaign when he scored 17 in 2014. Unsurprisngly, the next two highest individual tallies in a season also belong to the Portugal legend.
The Champions League really is Cristiano's favourite competition.
#4 Only player to score 15+ goals every year since 2006 in Europe's top-five leagues
The level of competition in the top five leagues of Europe — Premier League, LaLiga Santander, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 — is remarkably higher than that in the remaining top-flights. Ronaldo has appeared in three of these five leagues and has scored a staggering number of goals in each and every one of them.
The former Real Madrid legend has a total of 429 league goals since 2006/07, scoring a minimum of 15 goals in every campaign since then — a feat that no other player has managed in the top five leagues.
The Portuguese has been the epitome of consistency and has managed to score goals at an absurd rate. This achievement only goes on to highlight his goalscoring prowess and natural ability that has allowed him to find the back of the net at will, and for such an extended period.
The most fascinating part of this is the variation of goals he's scored. Ronaldo has a lengthy list of goals ranging from three-yeards out to thirty. Be it a banging long-range strike or a clever finish in the box, Ronaldo has done it all.
Also read: 5 Key Battles to watch out for as Juventus host Olympique Lyon | UEFA Champions League 2019-20