Cristiano Ronaldo – the name is synonymous with breaking records whether that be with his on-field awesomeness or his off-field popularity. The Real Madrid superstar scored a sensational hat-trick in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League against bitter rivals Atletico Madrid, to help his team qualify for their second successive final of the coveted competition.
He then produced a stellar performance in the final to help Real Madrid become the first team in the Champions League era to retain the title as Zinedine Zidane’s side secured a 4-1 win over Juventus.
Ronaldo is a once in a lifetime player and a goal scorer par excellence, to the point, where he can authoritatively be termed as the Greatest Goalscorer in modern football, if not in the history of football.
Yes, detractors might point the finger at a certain Argentine who plies his trade in and for Barcelona, but in regards to pure goalscoring threat and consistency, there is no one quite at Ronaldo’s level. There is another question of who is the better footballer out of the two but that is something we will touch at a later point in time. For now, just enjoy the Ronaldo show, while you still can.
And with that, we present to you a summary of all the records held by the former Manchester United heart-throb.
(Note: I have tried to incorporate all of the records that are broken by Cristiano Ronaldo, however, if I missed out on any, please forgive me for the same and let us know in the comments.)
The hat-trick affair!
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 47 hat-tricks in total, out of which 42 have been for Real Madrid. The Portuguese has 32 of these in La Liga itself, the most in the history of the competition. His 42 hat-tricks also make him the player with the most trebles in Los Blancos’ history.
#2 The Portuguese sensation had scored 8 hat-tricks during the 2014-15 season making him the joint-highest scorer of hat-tricks in a single season of La Liga, along with eternal rival Lionel Messi. The duo have also notched a record 7 hat-tricks each in the UEFA Champions League, that is more than what any other team has managed to score bar Real Madrid (11) and Barcelona (12).
#3 The 32-year-old is also the first player in the history of the UEFA Champions League to score three hat-tricks in a single season (2015-16) when he scored three against Shakhtar Donetsk, followed by a four-goal haul against Malmo and another treble in the quarter-final clash against Wolfsburg.
#4 Ronaldo’s hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final also made him the only player ever to score hat-tricks in successive knockout games in the UEFA Champions League.
The Ruler of All Europe Part I
#5 Cristiano is the first player to score 100 goals in European competition, while he also holds the record of being the first player to score 100 in the UEFA Champions League, he is currently on 105 goals. He holds the distinction of having scored the most number of goals in all UEFA competitions, having bulged the net on 139 occasions.
#6 The former Manchester United superstar is the only footballer to score over 50 goals in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. He has 54 of them.
#7 The 32-year-old has now scored more goals in the Champions League knockout stages, than he has scored in the group stages. He has 54 in knockouts and 51 in group stages.
#8 The 4-time Ballon d’Or winner has the distinction of scoring the most number of headed goals in the Champions League, with 18 of his 103 coming off his head.
The Ruler of All Europe Part II
#9 Since 2009, the 4-time Ballon d’Or winner has netted 90 goals in the UEFA Champions League, which is more than what both the Manchester clubs have managed to score in this period. Manchester United have managed to score 86 goals in this period.
#10 The Portuguese’s goals since 2009 is more than the combined total of what Tottenham Hotspur (43), Leicester City (11) and Liverpool (10) have managed in this period.
#11 As already mentioned, Liverpool have managed to score only 10 goals in the UEFA Champions League since 2009. Ronaldo, on the other hand, scored 11 in the group stage of Real Madrid’s La Undecima winning campaign. He scored 10 goals in the knockouts of the La Duodecima winning campaign.
#12 Ronaldo holds the record of scoring the most number of goals in a single Champions League campaign, with the Portuguese star netting 17 goals in the 2013/14 campaign. He also holds the record for the second most number of goals in a campaign with 16, scored during the 2015/16 season. He is also the first player to be top-scorer in the UEFA Champions for 5 consecutive seasons.
The Ruler of All Europe Part III
#13 Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player ever to score 10 or more goals in four consecutive seasons of the UEFA Champions League. He did it between 2011-12 to 2014-15.
#14 CR7 has scored the most home goals in UEFA Champions League history, having scored 54 goals so far.
#15 Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player in the history of European Cup (UEFA Champions League) to have scored for two different winning teams in the final, for Manchester United in 2007-08 and for Real Madrid in 2013-14 and 2016-17.
#16 The Portuguese is the only player in La Liga history to breach the 30 goal landmark in six consecutive seasons.
The Undisputed King of Real Madrid
#17 Cristiano Ronaldo is the undisputed king of Real Madrid and here’s why: He is the fastest player to reach 50 and 100 league goals for Los Blancos, while also being the fasted to reach to 200, 250 and 300 club goals.
#18 The Portuguese also holds the La Liga record of being the player to reach 150 and 200 league goals in the least number of matches, 140 and 178 respectively.
#19 Not only that, Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer with 406 goals.
#20 To further cement his legacy as the King of Santiago Bernabeu, the 32-year-old became the fastest player to score 350 goals for one club, having achieved this feat in 335 games.
The best big game player of the modern era....
#21 Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the highest scorer in the Madrid derby matches, having notched up 18 goals.
#22 His run of scoring in 6 consecutive El Clasicos, made him the only player to have ever done that in the history of the iconic rivalry.
#23 A top marksman and an even better penalty-taker, Ronaldo has kept his cool from the spot and has slotted home record 57 penalties in La Liga.
#24 The Portuguese is also Real Madrid’s record goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League (90) and all European competitions (92).
Record-breaker, History-maker!
#25 Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest scorer in Europe’s top five leagues, having surpassed Jimmy Greaves’ tally of 366 goals when he scored against Celta Vigo in the penultimate game of the 2016/17 season. The Portuguese now has 371 league goals (in Europe’s top six league) and can only extend his lead at the top now.
#26 Ronaldo is the only player in the world to have won all of the league title, Champions League, the national cup, Community Shield/Super Cup and the Club World Cup, along with the Golden Boot, League Player of the Year and the Ballon d’Or with two different clubs, namely Manchester United and Real Madrid.
#27 The Portuguese is the only player in world football who has scored in 3 editions of the World Cup and 4 editions of the Euros, having found the net in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cup, while also scoring in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Euros.
#28 He is the joint-most scorer along with Michel Platini in the UEFA European Championship finals with 9 goals. Apart from that, he has also scored the most goals in Euros – including qualifying – having scored 29 goals for Portugal.
Portugal’s favourite son!
#29 Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s all-time record goalscorer with 71 goals and he is also the all-time record appearance holder for A Seleccao.
#30 The Real Madrid superstar has won the ‘Portugal’s Best Athlete Abroad; on eight occasions.
#31 The Portuguese is the only footballer in history to have made it to the UEFA Team of the Year on 11 occasions.
#32 Cristiano has won the most number of European Golden Shoe awards (4) and is the only footballer to have won the award while playing for two different teams in two different leagues. He won the Golden Shoe award while playing for Manchester United in 2007/08, while he has won it thrice with Real Madrid in 2010/11, 2013/14 and 2014/15.
Portugal’s favourite son - FIFA
#33 Cristiano Ronaldo, along with Lionel Messi, holds the record of the joint-most inclusions (10) in the FIFA FIFPRO XI. The Portuguese is also the only player to appear in the FIFPro World XI for two different clubs.
#34 Cristiano is the joint top-scorer of international goals in a calendar year, along with Vivian Woodward (England) and Lionel Messi, when he scored 25 goals during 2013.
#35 Ronaldo is the joint-top scorer in the FIFA Club World Cup, having scored 5 goals in 3 editions of the tournament. He is tied along with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Cesar Delgado.
#36 Ronaldo is the only player in the history of the game to have scored in every minute of an official football game.
Portugal’s favourite son – Euros
#37 The 32-year-old holds the record for highest number of appearances at UEFA European Championship finals, having appeared in 20 games.
#38 Ronaldo was the first-player to appear in the semi-finals of three UEFA European Championship beating former Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger to it by 24 hours. Ronaldo appeared in the semi-finals in 2004, 2012 and 2016.
#39 The Portuguese holds the record of having scored the most number of headed goals at UEFA European Championship finals. The Portuguese has 5 goals to his name.
#40 The 32-year-old has scored the most goals in the UEFA European Championship and the European FIFA World Cup qualifiers, having netted a total of 44 goals.
The Rock Says..... Ronaldo is the People’s Champion!
#41 He is the most liked person on Facebook (Male), with more than 120 million likes. He is also the first and only footballer to have over 100 million likes on Facebook.
#42 Cristiano is the first Sportsperson to cross 100 million followers on Instagram.
#43 He is the most followed footballer on Twitter with close to 52 million followers.
#44 The Portuguese is the only ever footballer to win the Most Valuable Player award in the history of La Liga.
The Phenomenon that is Cristiano Ronaldo
#45 He holds the record of being the first player to score against all 19 other La Liga teams, when he achieved this feat in 2011/12. Ever since, even Lionel Messi has managed to repeat this unique feat.
#46 Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano to become the player with most goals in European Cup/Champions League semi-finals, courtesy of his hat-trick against Atletico. The Portuguese now has 13 goals, while the Argentinian had 11 to his name.
#47 Ronaldo holds the record of scoring the most UEFA Champions League goals in a calendar year, when he netted 15 during 2013.
#48 Cristiano Ronaldo has also scored the most braces in the UEFA Champions League, having scored 20 of them.
Eat, Sleep, Break Records, Repeat... the story continues
#49 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in the Champions League than 113 of the 135 teams that have participated in the competition, including the likes of Atletico Madrid (102), Roma and Benfica – both have 98 goals.
#50 Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in history to play in 2 consecutive UEFA Champions League finals with 2 different teams, having played in the final of the 2007/08 and 2008/09 edition with Manchester United and in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 edition with Real Madrid.
#51 Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in Champions League era to score in three finals (2017, 2014 and 2008).
#52 Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 600 goals for club and country. Real Madrid – 406, Manchester United – 118, Sporting Lisbon – 5 and Portugal – 71.
