“Just 900?” - Ex-Manchester United superstar reacts to Cristiano Ronaldo scoring 900th career goal as Portugal beat Croatia
Former Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has reacted to Cristiano Ronaldo scaling Mount 900. The 39-year-old achieved the landmark when he scored Portugal's second goal in their 2-1 UEFA Nations League win over Croatia in Lisbon on Thursday.
Following a five-game scoring drought for A Selecao - all at Euro 2024, where Roberto Martinez's side lost to France in the quarter-final - Ronaldo returned to scoring ways to create history.
He's now the first player to score 900 career goals for club and country, with 131 of them coming for Portugal, a record tally in men's international football. Ronaldo posted a picture of himself celebrating his landmark strike, captioning the Instagram post (as translated from Portuguese):
"We walked into the Nations League on the right foot! We keep going."
De Gea - who played for Ronaldo's former club United between 2011 and 2023 - commented, albeit cheekily:
"Just 900?"
It's pertinent to note that Ronaldo's monumental career tally includes 145 goals for Manchester United, with 118 of them coming during his first spell between 2003 and 2009.
Earlier this year, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner became the first male player to score in 21 consecutive years in international football.
"It's a unique milestone in my career" - Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is expectedly over the moon to score his 900th goal for club and country, having scored his first for his boyhood club Sporting CP all the way back in 2002.
Following his landmark strike 11 minutes before half-time in the Croatia win, the former Manchester United attacker said (as per ESPN) that he was looking forward to the milestone for a while:
"It means a lot. It was a milestone I wanted to reach for a long time. I knew I would reach this number, because as I continue to play, it would happen naturally."
About his emotional celebration after scoring his 900th goal, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner added:
"It was emotional because it's a milestone. It seems like any other milestone, but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals. It's a unique milestone in my career."
Ronaldo is now 58 goals clear of the next man on the list, his arch-rival Lionel Messi.