"Another historic milestone" - Real Madrid congratulate Cristiano Ronaldo for scoring 900th career goal
Real Madrid congratulated their club legend Cristiano Ronaldo for reaching the monumental landmark of 900 goals for club and country. The former Los Blancos attacker reached the mark in Portugal's UEFA Nations League opener against Croatia in Lisbon on Thursday.
After Diogo Dalot's seventh-minute opener, the 39-year-old Ronaldo snapped his five-game scoreless drought for A Selecao just before half-time as he entered unchartered territory.
With that strike, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner became the first player to net 900 career goals, with exactly half of them coming during a hugely successful nine-season spell at the Santiago Bernabeu between 2009 and 2018.
Los Blancos congratulated Ronaldo in a tweet that read (as translated from Spanish):
"Another historic milestone: 900 goals in the professional career of one of the greatest legends of Real Madrid and world football. Congratulations, dear and admired @Cristiano! Real Madrid and the Madrid fans are always proud of you."
Ronaldo is also the most capped player (213 games) and prolific scorer (131 goals) in men's international football. He has won two titles with his country - the 2016 Euros and the 2019 UEFA Nations League.
The Al-Nassr striker has also scored goals galore with top clubs like Manchester United (145) and Juventus (68), winning multiple titles.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid career by the numbers
As mentioned earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo had a hugely successful decade-long stint at Real Madrid. In nine seasons, he scored a staggering 450 times in 438 games across competitions, leaving as their all-time top scorer.
During his stay at the Bernabeu, the Portugal captain achieved numerous milestones. Some notable ones include becoming the first player to score 40 times in La Liga, first to score 100 times in the UEFA Champions League and first to score 100 Champions League goals for a single club.
Moreover, by scoring in Los Blancos' La Decima win (4-1 after extra time) over Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo became the first player in Champions League history to score for two different winning teams in the final. He had also scored in Manchester United's shootout win over Chelsea in the 2008 title match.
Ronaldo played a key role in Los Blancos winning an unprecedented Champions League three-peat between 2016 and 2018, scoring 43 times and assisting 13 in 38 games.
The Al-Nassr striker produced the most prolific Champions League season by any player when he netted 17 times in their 2013-14 triumph.