Cristiano Ronaldo reached a significant milestone on Thursday by scoring the 900th goal of his illustrious career.
The 39-year-old struck for Portugal in their Nations League game against Croatia, putting them 2-0 up.
It prompted an emotional celebration by the forward, as he dropped to his knees by the corner flag in tears.
The goal was his 131st for his country, while he has also scored at club level for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and current club Al-Nassr.
Such is Ronaldo’s longevity that if someone was born when he scored the first competitive goal of his career they would now be 21.
He struck a double for Portugal’s Sporting on 7 October 2002, at the age of 17 years eight months and three days in a 3-0 win against Moreirense.
He then moved to Manchester United, scoring 118 goals in 293 games for the Red Devils before joining Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world record 94m euros (£80m).
In nine years at the Spanish giants, he scored 450 goals in just 438 games before making the move to Italy to join Juventus.
He added another 101 goals to his tally during his three years with the Italian club before returning to United, where he would score 27 goals in 54 games.
But a return to the Red Devils did not have the fairytale ending and in 2023 he made the move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr where he has got 68 goals and counting.
Ronaldo’s career goals
Al-Nassr 68
Juventus 101
Manchester United 145
Portugal 131
Real Madrid 450
Sporting CP 5
Total: 900
Source: Opta
Is Ronaldo the top scorer ever?
There is no central database to establish men’s football’s all-time top scorer, but Ronaldo was already leading the way for official games at a high level, having surpassed 800 goals during his second spell at Manchester United.
Brazil legends Pele and Romario separately claimed to have scored more than 1,000 goals each, but filter out friendlies and those numbers drop down into the 700s.
Unofficial statisticians RSSSF, external say Pele got 778 goals, while Romario scored 785.
Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s long-time rival, has scored 867 career goals to date.
‘I want 1,000’ - Ronaldo not done yet
Time is not on Ronaldo’s side since he is now 39, but the veteran is determined to keep on playing until he has reached the incredible figure of 1,000 career goals.
Speaking to his former Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand in an interview on his YouTube channel, Ronaldo said he was confident he could hit the milestone within the next couple of years.
“I want to reach 1,000 goals,” he said. “If I don’t have any injuries, this for me is the most important [thing], I want that. All the goals I have scored, they have video.”
