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Against Atletico Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo did just what Cristiano Ronaldo does. Defying all the odds, he stepped up to eliminate the former Spanish Champions from the Champions League. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in the 3-0 second leg win and it was a performance to remember.
It is a privilege for this generation to be witnessing the genius of Cristiano Ronaldo and there is no doubting the greatness of this man.
So, in the wake of that memorable performance against the Spanish side from the Portuguese, here we discuss the 3 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest of them all:
#3 Consistency and Longevity
Cristiano Ronaldo has been consistently scoring goals since his Manchester United days and he hasn't had one season upon which one can look back and say that he wasn't great. He has been consistently destroying opposition defences single-handedly with his goalscoring abilities.
The Portuguese in his Manchester United days, playing as a winger was pretty inconsistent. Just like any youngster, he was in and out of the team. But when Sir Alex Ferguson challenged him to add more goals to his game, he did exactly that and after that 2006/07 season, the Portuguese has never looked back.
12 years on from that season, and we still haven't seen Ronaldo failing to score less than 30 goals every season. And right now he is 34 years old, but he still looks as fit and as hungry as ever. The former Ballon D'or winner is still one of the fastest players in world football and maybe the most consistent goalscorer the world has ever seen.
That consistency of scoring a truckload of goals every season for the last 12 years is what makes him one of the greatest ever.
#2 Ability to step up in the big games
Cristiano Ronaldo has always had that knack of stepping up to the plate in the big games. He did it at Manchester United and Real Madrid, and now he is doing it for the Old Lady.
His impact in those big games has always been tremendous at every club that he has been a part of, and now it's clear that Juventus are reaping the rewards of the Portuguese's elite attitude. Ronaldo never fades away from these crunch games.
Take that quarterfinal against Bayern Munich in the 2017 Champions League for example, where Ronaldo scored 5 goals for Real Madrid in their 6-3 win on aggregate. There are many more instances where the Portuguese has singlehandedly won his team matches against the elite of Europe.
This ability of Cristiano to step up on the big occasions is what makes him one of the greatest ever and there is no doubting that.
#1 Statistics
And this one for all the people who love to judge the game by stats. Cristiano Ronaldo's statistics in front of goal are absolutely unbelievable. He has been breaking records for fun and he is in no mood of stopping.
Ronaldo now has scored 8 Champions League hat-tricks, which is the joint most with Lionel Messi. He has been involved in 75 goals in 77 Champions League knockout games, which just tells you the big match player that he is.
The winger is a five-time Ballon D'or winner, 4 time UEFA Best player in Europe winner and 4-time golden boot winner. He has been a top scorer for his respective sides 16 times in his whole career. He has won 29 titles in total and he is a one time Uefa Euro winner.
The Portuguese has been simply breaking records for years now and that alone guarantees him a place alongside the best, to ever grace the beautiful game.
All statistics via Transfermarkt
