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This week sees the great Cristiano Ronaldo celebrate his 35th birthday, and over the best part of the last two decades, we’ve seen the Portuguese grow from a preening teenage winger at Manchester United to arguably the greatest player to ever play football.
Along the way, CR7 has won a ridiculous amount of trophies at both club and international level – and the biggest constant of his career has been his insane goalscoring ability. With a total of over 700 goals to his name, Ronaldo continues to amaze – and with the physical condition he keeps himself in, the Portuguese international is clearly not done yet.
Here is a breakdown of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring record, from his early years to the present day.
Aged 17-22: Seasons 2002-03 to 2006-07
Ronaldo’s professional career started with Portuguese Primeira Liga side Sporting CP, and at 17 years old he broke into the club’s first team – scoring 2 goals on his league debut against Moreirense. People might look back now and claim that this was a glimpse of his goalscoring future, but that wouldn’t necessarily be true – Ronaldo only scored 5 goals in his 31 games during his debut season, before moving to Manchester United at the age of 18 in the summer of 2003.
Upon his move to Old Trafford, Ronaldo not only became United’s first-ever Portuguese player, but he also became the most expensive teenager in English football history, as the Red Devils paid £12.25m for his services.
It took Ronaldo some time to adjust to life in English football, and in his first season, the goals didn’t exactly flow. Deployed largely as a winger due to his already-excellent dribbling ability, the Portuguese scored just 6 goals in 40 appearances, although one of them gave a hint of what was to come for him in big matches – he scored the opening goal in the 2004 FA Cup final as United defeated Millwall, giving Ronaldo his first-ever major trophy.
The summer of 2004 was also a fruitful one for Ronaldo – he scored his first international goals for Portugal at that year’s European Championship, although he could not help his side win the tournament as hosts; they instead fell to underdogs Greece in the final.
2004-05 and 2005-06 were both largely fruitless for CR7; his goal ratio increased, scoring 9 in 50 games and then 12 in 47, but the only trophy he got his hands on was the secondary EFL Cup in the latter season. Even so, the Portuguese still showed his flair for scoring historic goals – he netted the 1000th Premier League goal for Manchester United in October 2005 against Middlesbrough.
The summer of 2006 saw the 21-year old hit a crossroads point in his career; he scored a goal against Iran in that summer’s World Cup as Portugal made the semi-finals, but also became involved in a notorious incident in a game against England that saw his Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney sent off, and when the Three Lions were eliminated, the English press were more than happy to blame Ronaldo.
Rumours then abounded that he was ready to abandon his United career – but instead, he stayed, and apparently burying the hatchet with Rooney, went onto his most fruitful year yet. Delivering 23 goals in all competitions, Ronaldo finished as the Red Devils’ joint top scorer alongside Rooney, and helped United win the Premier League title – a first for the Portuguese. He also scored his first-ever goals in the Champions League – the first of many.
At the age of 22, Ronaldo was clearly on the verge of greatness – but even then, nobody could’ve predicted quite how great he’d become.
Aged 22-26: Seasons 2007-08 to 2010-11
The season that saw Ronaldo turn 23 years old – 2007-08 – was the first that also saw him enter the discussion when it came to being recognised as the world’s greatest player. His brilliant 2006-07 saw him finish as runner-up to Kaka in the famous Ballon d’Or race – but by the end of the following season, he’d comfortably surpassed the Brazilian.
Ronaldo plundered a ridiculous total of 42 goals in 49 appearances across all competitions during 2007-08, and became United’s talisman – even above Rooney – as the Red Devils captured both the Premier League title and the Champions League. Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese finished as top scorer in both competitions, and scored one of his most memorable goals against Portsmouth in a Premier League game – a free-kick that saw him innovate his now-famous ‘knuckleball’ technique.
The summer of 2008 saw him score for Portugal in his third successive international tournament – Euro 2008 – with a goal against the Czech Republic in a 3-1 win. Links with a move to Real Madrid also emerged that summer; United even filed a complaint about the Spanish side with FIFA, but when 2008-09 began, the great man remained at Old Trafford.
December 2008 saw his first Ballon d’Or victory – hardly surprising after his exploits – and while he could not keep up his goal rate during the season, he did score his 100th goal, and then took the famed Puskas Award for a 40-yard strike in the Champions League against Porto. Ronaldo ended 2008-09 with a total of 26 goals in 53 appearances, winning another Premier League title along the way.
That summer saw him finally make his much-rumoured move to Real Madrid, for a world-record fee of £80m. Initially taking the #9 shirt, Ronaldo wasted no time in making an impact for his new side, scoring in each of his first 4 league matches with Los Blancos. And essentially, he didn’t stop throughout the 2009-10 season, bagging 33 goals in all competitions, despite ending the campaign without a trophy.
Now aged 25, Ronaldo headed into the 2010 World Cup as Portugal’s talisman and greatest player, and found the net yet again in a major international tournament, scoring a somewhat comical goal in a 7-0 victory over North Korea. He was unable to take his side beyond the round of 16, though, leaving his quest for international glory again unfulfilled.
Ronaldo turned 26 midway through the 2010-11 season, and it would prove to be a pivotal one for him, most notably in the goalscoring stakes. The Portuguese won his first trophy with Real – the Copa del Rey – but despite failing to capture a major prize, he scored a career-best total of 53 goals in 54 appearances, including a ridiculous 6 hat-tricks.
Somehow that wasn’t enough to net him his second Ballon d’Or – but thankfully for fans of his, the snub simply drove him onto even more greatness in the next phase of his career.
Aged 26-31: Seasons 2011-12 to 2015-16
2011-12 saw Ronaldo capture his first La Liga title with Real Madrid, and it was a phenomenal season for him when it came to goalscoring, too; he hit an incredible total of 60 goals in 55 games across all competitions – averaging more than one per match – breaking his own personal best from the previous season. His goals included a winner against Barcelona in El Clasico, a hat-trick in the Madrid derby against city rivals Atletico, and his 100th La Liga goal.
The summer of 2012 saw him score three goals for Portugal at Euro 2012 – keeping up his incredible record of scoring goals in every international tournament he’d been involved in – but again, A Selecao fell in the semi-finals.
2012-13 turned out to be one of the Portuguese’s least fruitful seasons when it came to winning trophies; the Supercopa de Espana was Real’s only victory, although CR7 himself remained at peak form, scoring another 55 goals in all competitions. However, the following campaign would prove to be one of his very best.
December 2013 saw him awarded with the Ballon d’Or for the first time since 2008, and the trophy seemed to drive him on from there, as he scored 51 goals in 47 games, including a record-breaking 17 in the Champions League. Those goals helped Real to their 10th victory in the competition – nicknamed La Decima. The final saw him score from the penalty spot, making him the first player to score in two Champions League finals for different clubs.
2014’s World Cup saw him score his 50th international goal in a group match against Ghana – although he couldn’t stop Portugal falling at the first hurdle. At the age of 29, though, Ronaldo was at his absolute peak at this point, seemingly able to score against any opponent at any level.
It came as no surprise then when the Portuguese scored 61 goals in the 2014-15 season, breaking his personal best again. Ronaldo also retained the Ballon d’Or in December 2014, but the season turned out to be fruitless for him in terms of trophies; Real failed to win a single one across the entire campaign.
2015-16 made up for that, though; Ronaldo became Real Madrid’s highest ever goalscorer in all competitions, and with 252 goals in La Liga, became the second-highest scorer in that competition’s history behind the great Lionel Messi, and with another 16 goals in the Champions League, became that competition’s record goalscorer too.
Ronaldo ended the season with another 51 goals, and helped Los Blancos to win another Champions League title, before finally capturing international glory in the summer at Euro 2016. CR7 scored his 59th, 60th and 61st international goals in that tournament and although he was injured during the final, it was his impromptu coaching role that helped to inspire his team to win their first major tournament.
Aged 31-Present: Seasons 2016-17 to 2019-20
Despite turning 32 midway through the 2016-17 season, Ronaldo’s goalscoring feats showed no signs of slowing down. December 2016 saw him awarded with his third Ballon d’Or, and he followed that with one of his best seasons yet; the Portuguese scored 42 goals in 46 matches – including another 12 in Champions League action, taking him past 100 goals in the competition – as Real Madrid won a double of the Champions League and La Liga title.
It came as no surprise when he retained the Ballon d’Or in December 2017 – and he did not slow down in 2017-18 either, scoring another 44 goals in as many games across all competitions. Landmarks reached by Ronaldo during this season included scoring his 300th La Liga goal, his 50th career hat-trick, and another 15 in the Champions League – including arguably the greatest in the history of the competition, his famous overhead kick against Juventus in the quarter-finals.
The final saw him help Los Blancos to their third successive Champions League victory, and the fifth in his own career. And while he couldn’t help Portugal to win the World Cup during the summer of 2018, he did register an incredible hat-trick against Spain in the group stage, ensuring that another international tournament was graced by his goals.
2017-18 also turned out to be his final season in Spain; July 2018 saw him ink a deal with Juventus, moving to the Italian giants for a fee of €100m. But Ronaldo hadn’t moved to Serie A as part of an early retirement; he continued to score goals at a phenomenal clip in 2018-19, firing 28 in 43 appearances to help The Old Lady win the Scudetto.
In the summer of 2019, Ronaldo inspired Portugal to their second major international trophy; his hat-trick against Switzerland put them in the final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, and the final saw them defeat the Netherlands to become champions. At the international level, CR7 now sits on an incredible 99 goals – and it seems likely that he’ll go way beyond 100 before he’s done.
At club level meanwhile, the great man continues to have success with Juventus; at time of writing, as he turns 35 years old, Ronaldo has scored 22 goals in 27 appearances during the current campaign. January saw him become only the third man to score hat-tricks in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, and he could well win further trophies this season too.
Ronaldo has now reached a total of 722 career goals – and at the age of 35, he still appears to be in prime shape. Could he yet reach 1000 goals? It sounds impossible – but then Ronaldo is a player who’s made the impossible happen for almost two decades.
