Ronaldo 501

Cristiano Ronaldo laid down yet another milestone on Wednesday as a career already littered with glittering highlights gained further glory as he passed 500 career goals and drew level with Raul’s all-time Real Madrid record of 323 goals.

This phenomenal achievement of 501 goals for club and country has arrived in just 753 appearances for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal.

Ronaldo 501 in numbers

The breakdown of his goal scoring feat makes for impressive reading:

5 – Sporting Lisbon

118 – Manchester United

323 – Real Madrid

55 – Portugal

Once you take into account the time in which it has taken him to accrue them, the acceleration in his goal scoring is something to admire.

His goal record at Manchester United was impressive for a winger, especially in the 2007-08 season when he smashed in 46 goals. These goals helped Manchester United win the Premier League and also the UEFA Champions league in Moscow, where he scored the opening goal. His missed penalty in the shootout gave Chelsea captain John Terry the opportunity to win it for the Blues, but his slip resulted in Ronaldo winning the Champions League for the first time.

His individual performances culminated in him being announced the greatest player in the world in 2008, winning both the top individual awards in World Football; FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon D’or winner.

Other awards won that season included: UEFA Team of the Year, PFA Player of the Year, Premier League Golden Boot, FIFPro World Player of the Year, FWA Player of the Year, UEFA Club Forward of the Year, UEFA Player of the Year and the winner of the European Golden Shoe for the most goals scored throughout Europe that season.

Real Record Breaker

That summer, Real Madrid – the team Ronaldo supported as a boy – came calling. However, they would be made to wait until 2009 to sign him for a world record £80 million fee.

He scored on his debut for Real Madrid at home against Deportivo La Coruña on 29^th August 2009 and hasn’t stopped since. His record equalling tally of 323 goals have come in just 308 games for Los Blancos, and have been scored 400 games quicker than Raul’s 323. The set up of the team at Madrid has been largely centred upon Ronaldo, often with very talented teammates playing out of position and performing almost subservient roles. This analysis is backed up by the top three assist makers being Karim Benzema (31), Mesut Özil (27) and Angel Di Maria (22).

Of his 501 goals; 326 have been scored with his right foot, 90 with his left and 83 via headed goals, the rest coming from other parts of his sculptured physique. In La Liga he has a strong record against the top teams, showing that he is no flat track bully. He has scored against Sevilla (21), Barcelona (15), Atlético Madrid (15) and Athletic Bilbao (14). The only other team to make up the Ronaldo top five is Getafe, who have conceded 18 times to the Portuguese.

His intense rivalry with Lionel Messi is one that seems to have been a positive driving force behind Ronaldo’s success. Their goal scoring exploits have been remarkable, each trying to get one up on the other. If one gets a brace on the Saturday, the other will inevitably get a hat-trick on the Sunday.

The Champions League all-time goal scoring record has continuously changed hands over the past season, with Messi and Ronaldo intent on breaking each other’s tallies.  Ronaldo is currently five ahead of Messi on 82 goals and this lead looks to be extended given the knee injury that Messi picked up against Las Palmas in La Liga, which will keep him out of action for the remainder of the group stages.

Ronaldo has a tough task of breaking Raul’s record this weekend as Real Madrid travel to the Vicente Calderón Stadium to face city rivals Atlético. Diego Simeone’s side will no doubt do their best to prevent their arch rivals’ main player from breaking the record at their ground.

Is this likely to stop Ronaldo? Judging by his past 308 games for Real Madrid…probably not.