Chelsea legend John Terry sums up Cristiano Ronaldo reaching 900 career goals with comment on Instagram
Legendary Chelsea centre-back John Terry has reponded to Cristiano Ronaldo's phenomenal achievement of becoming the first player to score 900 goals for club and country.
The 39-year-old reached the landmark in the 34th minute of Portugal's 2-1 win over Croatia in Lisbon in their UEFA Nations League opener. After Diogo Dalot's seventh-minute winner, Ronaldo got on the scoresheet 27 minutes later to create more history.
Although Dalot scored at the wrong end to bring Croatia back to the game, Roberto Martinez's side held on to open their quest for a second Nations League title with a win.
Following the game, Ronaldo posted a picture of himself on Instagram and captioned it (as translated from Portuguese):
"We walked into the Nations League on the right foot! We keep going."
Terry simply responded:
"Phenomenal"
Here's the screenshot of Terry's comment on Ronaldo's post:
Many players - past and present - have congratulated Ronaldo on his latest achievement. They include his former Real Madrid teammate Marcelo and former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea - who played at Old Trafford between 2011 and 2023.
Reigning La Liga and UEFA Champions League holders Los Blancos have also congratulated their former player for scaling Mount 900, as has the Portugal football team's X account, and others. Ronaldo is Madrid's all-time top scorer with an incredible 450 goals in 438 games across competitions in nine seasons.
A breakdown of Cristiano Ronaldo's 900 career goals
Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the game's deadliest marksmen and one of the best to play the beautiful game, scoring goals for club and country for 23 straight years.
His monstrous tally of 900 career goals - between 2002 and 2024 comprises 450 goals for Real Madrid - as mentioned above.He has also scored 145 times for Manchester United, 131 for Portugal, 101 for Juventus, 68 for Al-Nassr and five for Sporting CP.
As per The Athletic (via NY Times), Ronaldo has had 131 goals from outside the box - including 63 free-kicks - 605 from inside the box and 164 penalties. He has scored goals in his teens (23), 20s (440) and 30s (437).
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored against 196 different club and international teams, with the latest being Al-Ain (March 2024). He has netted at least 10 times against 20 different teams, with the most (27) coming against Sevilla followed by Atletico Madrid (25).
The longest scoring drought of his career spans 27 games (December 2002 to November 2003).