Cristiano Ronaldo underlined his greatness once again as he scored his 700th career goal during Manchester United’s win over Everton.
The 37-year-old star rolled back the decades as he ran almost the entire pitch before firing the ball through Jordan Pickford. It was the decisive goal. Man United’s 2-1 victory at Goodison Park.
It was the Premier League’s inaugural goal for the season. Ronaldo, who’s had a tough season so far having started just one league match this term.
His landmark strike won’t do anything to reduce talk about his future at Old Trafford, but for now we’ll lay that all to one side as this is Ronaldo’s night.
Below you can see a breakdown of the Portuguese’s amazing goal stats in what’s been a truly remarkable career.
Ronaldo’s career goals are numbers-based:
- 700 club football career goals
- 60 hat-tricks
- 58 direct free-kicks
- 173 career penalty
- Sporting CP: 5
- Man United (1st spell): 118
- Real Madrid:
- Juventus: 101
- Man United (2nd spell..and counting): 26
On Ronaldo’s feat, talkSPORT’s Micky Gray said: “It’s just mind boggling, and it’s testament to himself, the way he conducts himself, the way he looks after himself throughout the whole of his career.
“Of course at the beginning of the season he showed frustration and wanted to leave Manchester United, but he’s there and when he’s called upon he comes up with the big goals.
“His name will be on the back of the newspapers tomorrow, it will be all over the television screens and we’re talking about him right now because that’s what that man does, he wins football matches and he scores goals.
“The goal was fantastic, it was like Ronaldo from seven or eight years ago, picking up the ball in and around the halfway line and bursting through those gears with the pace that he’s got, onto his left foot and buried the ball in the next – it was a deserved winning goal and deserving of the 700th of his club career.
“It’s a phenomenal record, the numbers are just mind-boggling and we’ve got two players now in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland who might come close to Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the end of their careers, but let’s talk about Ronaldo here and now.
“What this guy has achieved in his career… he was down and out, his legs have gone, he’s not going to play for Man United, well he’s just picked them up three points at Goodison Park because of a fantastic finish!
“It’s incredible what the man has achieved. Cristiano Ronaldo’s achievements in his career are unquestionable.
“He’s done it in the Premier League not just on one occasion, he’s now come back and done it twice. He left United the first time and goes to Spain where he scored a hatful of goals, he’s done it in Italy…
“Let’s not forget, he got over 20 goals last season and everybody thought he was finished at 37-years-old, but he just keeps on producing the goods.
“He’s had a phenomenal career from a phenomenal player, and phenomenal athlete.
“The criticism Ronaldo gets, it’s just because it’s him, but when he finishes his career we will be talking about Cristiano Ronaldo for decades to come.
“Whatever he achieves now, however long he’s still at Manchester United, whether he leaves in January or not, we’ve enjoyed every single moment of watching him over the last 20 years.
“And, if I can just add this, I loved playing against him. He’s just a phenomenon.”
Ronaldo won’t stop there. Surely not, particularly because Lionel Messi is breathing down his neck on 691 club career goals…
