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Finally, Cristiano Ronaldo has opened his account as a Juventus player after drawing a blank in his opening three Serie A games.
The Portugal international drew mixed reactions from football fans across the globe when he joined the Bianconeri for a reported £88 million. And, following that signing, the world has been waiting for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner to set the Italian topflight alight.
It took four games, but once Ronaldo got on the score sheet against Sassuolo on Sunday, it was obvious that we were in for a good show. The 33-year-old opened the scoring for Juve in the 50th minute, before adding a second just after 15 minutes. In fact, it could even have been three.
In a week where Real Madrid needed his goals to get the three points against a stubborn Athletic Bilbao side, the former goal machine was in Italy delivering the goods.
In netting a double, Ronaldo recorded some amazing stats that only he can actually boast of.
Now, let’s take a look at four of those stats:
#4 He has the most goals for any active player
Everybody knows Cristiano Ronaldo is a goal machine, but the only surprise is that the Portugal captain continues to defy the odds even at age 33.
On Sunday, Ronaldo was once again at his best, scoring twice as Juventus defeated Sassuolo 2-1 to make it four wins from four league games. But in scoring those two goals, he has now extended his record as the player with most goals among his active colleagues.
Ronaldo currently has 660 career goals scored for both club and country. That is 39 more than his nearest competitor in that list, as Lionel Messi comes second-place with 621 goals of his own.
In fact, the only active player who joins the superstar duo on this prolific scoring list of having scored over 500 career goals is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
#3 Scored his 400th league goal
Cristiano Ronaldo is so good that sometimes people normally prefer to judge him by his goals in the Uefa Champions League. The 33-year-old has emerged top scorer in Europe’s flagship competition for the past six consecutive seasons. That’s the kind of goal scoring monopoly he has.
But he has equally been prolific in league games over the years. Sunday’s two goals against Sassuolo were actually Ronaldo’s 399th and 400th league goals in his career. And all those amazing numbers have come in just 517 league games for the former Real Madrid man.
The Portugal international netted just three in the league during his time at Sporting Lisbon, but managed 84 in his time with English giants Manchester United.
Ronaldo took his goal scoring exploits to new heights when he joined Spanish outfit Real Madrid in the summer on 2009. In the La liga, he scored a whopping 311 goals in Madrid colours to set himself up for this historic feat. It’s now 400 league goals!
#2 Took 27 shots to open Serie A account
When Cristiano Ronaldo plays upfront, you’d expect to see him on the end of many of the chances created by his colleagues. But for a player like him, who loves to shoot, every opposition goalie would definitely expect to face shots.
That is exactly what Ronaldo has been doing since he made his debut for Juventus – only that those shots had previously not found their way into the back of the net. But on Sunday, everything came good for the Portuguese as his 27th shot in the league ended up as a goal.
Last season, Ronaldo opened his account in the league with his 28th shot, which means that he has gone one better this campaign with his first Serie A goal. At 33, that doesn’t look bad all, especially when he ended up scoring twice on the day as well.
#1 Just the 5th player to score 400 career league goals
Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored a staggering 400 goals in league competition. But as much as the Portuguese enjoys being first on every list, he doesn’t enjoy such privilege in this list of greats.
In fact, he is not the first player to achieve such a feat and only comes in as the fifth player overall to score 400 career league goals. But if there’s anyone that has proven that he is not finished, it is definitely Ronaldo.
The former Manchester United star continues to show that he has more to offer and that his age (33 years currently) is just a number. Perhaps, Ronaldo could move to top this list too before he finally hangs his boots.
