All the records held by Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo – the name is synonymous with breaking records whether that be with his on-field awesomeness or his off-field popularity. The Real Madrid superstar scored a sensational hat-trick in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League against bitter rivals Atletico Madrid, to help his team qualify for their second successive final of the coveted competition.
He then produced a stellar performance in the final to help Real Madrid become the first team in the Champions League era to retain the title as Zinedine Zidane’s side secured a 4-1 win over Juventus.
Ronaldo is a once in a lifetime player and a goal scorer par excellence, to the point, where he can authoritatively be termed as the Greatest Goalscorer in modern football, if not in the history of football.
Yes, detractors might point the finger at a certain Argentine who plies his trade in and for Barcelona, but in regards to pure goalscoring threat and consistency, there is no one quite at Ronaldo’s level. There is another question of who is the better footballer out of the two but that is something we will touch at a later point in time. For now, just enjoy the Ronaldo show, while you still can.
And with that, we present to you a summary of all the records held by the former Manchester United heart-throb.
(Note: I have tried to incorporate all of the records that are broken by Cristiano Ronaldo, however, if I missed out on any, please forgive me for the same and let us know in the comments.)
The hat-trick affair!
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 47 hat-tricks in total, out of which 42 have been for Real Madrid. The Portuguese has 32 of these in La Liga itself, the most in the history of the competition. His 42 hat-tricks also make him the player with the most trebles in Los Blancos’ history.
#2 The Portuguese sensation had scored 8 hat-tricks during the 2014-15 season making him the joint-highest scorer of hat-tricks in a single season of La Liga, along with eternal rival Lionel Messi. The duo have also notched a record 7 hat-tricks each in the UEFA Champions League, that is more than what any other team has managed to score bar Real Madrid (11) and Barcelona (12).
#3 The 32-year-old is also the first player in the history of the UEFA Champions League to score three hat-tricks in a single season (2015-16) when he scored three against Shakhtar Donetsk, followed by a four-goal haul against Malmo and another treble in the quarter-final clash against Wolfsburg.
#4 Ronaldo’s hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final also made him the only player ever to score hat-tricks in successive knockout games in the UEFA Champions League.