Cristiano Ronaldo's records in the UEFA Champions League
Cristiano Ronaldo is featuring in the UEFA Champions League for the 17th season. The Portuguese superstar has played with Manchester United for six of those seasons and turned up in the white ensemble of Real Madrid for nine campaigns. Now, he does it with Juventus in his second season with the Italian champions.
Ronaldo made his debut in the UEFA Champions League as a precocious 18-year-old for Manchester United against VfB Stuttgart in 2003-04.
But it would be three more seasons and 26 games before the Portuguese would score his first goal in the competition, which came in Manchester United's 7-1 mauling of AS Roma at home in the 2006-07 quarter-finals. Since then, Ronaldo has scored 126 goals in 137 games in the tournament proper (from the group stages to the final).
During the course of his record-breaking career, the Portuguese marksman has amassed a slew of records in the competition. Ronaldo is one of only two players, alongside Lionel Messi to have scored eight hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League. He is one of four players to have scored in 14 consecutive seasons, the others being Raúl González, Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema. Ronaldo also shares the record of scoring against 33 different opponents in the UEFA Champions League with former Real Madrid teammate Raúl.
Let us have a look at Ronaldo's standalone records in European club football's blue riband event.
Also read: 5 Scoring records within Cristiano Ronaldo's reach | UEFA Champions League 2019/20
# Most appearances by an outfield player in the competition
Ronaldo is one of 38 players to have made 100 or more appearances in the UEFA Champions League. With 164 appearances for three different clubs - Manchester United (52), Real Madrid (101), and Juventus (11), Ronaldo has the most appearances in the competition for any outfield player.
The next active outfield player with the most appearances is Barcelona's Lionel Messi (137).
Only former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas (177) has made more appearances in the competition.