5 landmarks awaiting Cristiano Ronaldo in 2020
Cristiano Ronaldo's haul of 39 goals for club and country in 2019 was good enough for fifth place in the list of the top scorers during the calendar year.
In a year that saw him score 4 hat-tricks for club and country and become the first to win top-flight titles in England, Spain and Italy, Ronaldo led Portugal to Euro 2020 qualification by scoring in 6 consecutive games.
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Ronaldo's first and only hat-trick for Juventus helped his team overturn a two-goal first leg deficit against Atletico Madrid to reach the Champions League quarterfinals (lost to Ajax). In the process, the Portugal captain equaled Lionel Messi's record of most hat-tricks in the competition (8).
The Juventus striker narrowly failed to score his first hat-trick in the Italian top-flight when the woodwork intervened in the 2019-20 Serie A win over Udinese. Ronaldo ended 2019 on a losing note when Juventus fell short in the Supercoppa Italiana final to Lazio in Riyadh.
However, the all-time Champions League top-scorer would have the following milestones to look forward to as 2019 makes way for 2020.
#1 Break Gonzalo Higuain's record of most Serie A goals in a season
Ronaldo bagged his first Serie A title in 2018-19, in the process becoming the first to win top-flight titles in England, Spain and Italy, as Juventus won an eighth-consecutive Scudetto.
However, the Portugal captain had an underwhelming league season by his staggering standards. A return of 21 league goals may be considered decent for just about any player but not for Ronaldo; the Juventus forward endured his lowest league return in a decade to fall short of Capocanonniere winner Fabio Quagliarella's haul of 26.
Like in his first season in Italy, Ronaldo has scored 10 goals in his 14 games of the 2019-20 season. The Euro 2016 winner would have to score at better than a goal per game in the second half of the season to equal or surpass teammate Gonzalo Higuain's record of most goals in a Serie A season (35).
It would be a daunting task, but if anybody can, it is Ronaldo - despite his rather lukewarm start to the season.
Also check out: Seria A table Champions League Schedule Champions League table