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He might’ve risen to stardom in the previous decade, but there’s no disputing that Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has produced his greatest moments of magic during the current decade of 2010-2019.
Over the course of those ten years – counting from the beginning of the 2010-11 season - Ronaldo has scored a staggering 530 goals for club and country, and he’s also won multiple trophies, including two La Liga titles, one Serie A title, four UEFA Champions Leagues, the European Championship, the UEFA Nations League, and the Ballon d’Or on four occasions.
What he’s become most well-known for though are his absolutely astonishing goals. Equally capable of scoring with both feet and his head, ‘CR7’ has delivered the goods in seemingly countless ways over the last decade, and with so many goals to choose from, it’s been tricky whittling them down to a top ten – and naturally, it’s still debatable.
Here though, in chronological order, are my picks for Cristiano Ronaldo’s 10 best goals of the decade (2010-2019).
Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid were chasing a title win in La Liga during 2011-12 and were in the midst of an astonishing run – 16 wins in 17 matches – when they played host to Levante in February 2012. The away side actually took a surprising lead in the 5th minute, but the tide began to turn when they were reduced to 10 men late in the first half, with Ronaldo scoring the subsequent penalty.
The Portuguese superstar wasn’t quite done though, and he headed Los Blancos in front on 50 minutes before completing his hat-trick just 7 minutes later with a truly venomous strike. Collecting the ball on the wide left side of the pitch, Ronaldo cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable, dipping right-footed shot that simply flew into the roof of the net.
There probably wasn’t a goalkeeper on the planet who could’ve reached the shot, as Ronaldo had secured his hat-trick in the most spectacular way possible. Incredibly, it was the Portuguese’s 6th treble of that season.
#2 vs. Rayo Vallecano, February 2012
Just one game after his hat-trick against Levante, Ronaldo uncorked a truly ludicrous goal to give Real Madrid an important 0-1 victory over city rivals Rayo Vallecano at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas. In a somewhat bad-tempered match that saw 9 yellow cards and 1 red card, the Portuguese forward delivered a piece of pure magic.
Early in the second half Real sent a corner into the box that missed all of its intended targets, but after a brief scramble, the ball fell to Ronaldo, who had his back to the goal and appeared to be moving further away from it. Before any Rayo defenders could react though, ‘CR7’ caught them off guard with an unbelievable back-heeled strike that flew into the bottom corner of the net.
Quite how Ronaldo was able to generate such power with a back-heeled strike remains a mystery to this day, but there can be no doubt that this one stands out as one of the Portuguese’s greatest ever goals.
2011-12 was one of Ronaldo’s most productive seasons; the Portuguese genius scored a ridiculous 60 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid that season, and undoubtedly one of his best came in an away fixture against Osasuna in March 2012.
With 36 minutes gone, Ronaldo controlled an awkward ball from a teammate around 35 yards out and took a couple of touches forward before unleashing a thunderbolt of a right-footed shot that flew into the top right-hand corner of the net, leaving Osasuna’s goalkeeper with absolutely no chance of making a save.
How had Ronaldo struck the ball so hard and so cleanly? His celebration gave a clue away to his own explanation; ‘CR7’ rolled up his shorts and pointed to his flexed quadriceps muscle as his astonished teammates mobbed him. This was an iconic celebration for a truly iconic goal.
#4 vs. Atletico Madrid, April 2012
Another Real Madrid game in 2011-12, another Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick. This time the treble came against Real’s neighbours Atletico Madrid, as Los Blancos went into the Estadio Vicente Calderon and came away with an impressive 1-4 victory. On this occasion, it was the Portuguese forward’s first goal that was the most outstanding one.
Coming into the match, Ronaldo had not scored from a free-kick in more than 40 attempts during the season, but all that was about to change on 25 minutes. Awarded the kick some 36 yards out, ‘CR7’ stood over the ball in his trademark pose before hitting it with his famed ‘knuckleball’ shot, sending a strangely hard, flat shot whizzing past the wall and into the net past a frozen Thibaut Courtois.
The curve that the Portuguese put on the ball made this a simply unstoppable shot, reminiscent of his great free kick for Manchester United against Portsmouth in 2008. The goal was his 39th of 2011-12 – and it came as no surprise to see him add his 40th and 41st later in the match.
Ronaldo’s back-heeled goal against Rayo Vallecano in 2012 was fantastic enough, but somehow he pulled off an even better back-heeled strike in this draw with Valencia in May 2014. To make the goal even more jaw-dropping, the Portuguese scored it in the second minute of injury time – rescuing the game for Real Madrid, who had trailed for 25 minutes of the second half.
This time, with Los Blancos chasing the game, a cross was fired into the box, only for a Valencia defender to head it away. The ball fell to Angel Di Maria, who crossed back in, and somehow Ronaldo was able to contort his body to catch it cleanly with his right heel, sending it into the back of the net past the despairing dive of Valencia keeper Diego Alves.
This was a goal of absolutely insane quality, made even more incredible by the fact that ‘CR7’ could barely see the goal as his foot connected with the ball. It may well be the greatest back-heeled goal ever scored.
Despite being the key player for Portugal’s national side, Ronaldo wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders at Euro 2016 moving into the final group match against Hungary. Portugal needed at least a point to qualify for the knockout stages after drawing their opening two games, and ‘CR7’ had failed to score against Iceland and had even missed a penalty against Austria in a poor performance.
Hungary took the lead in the crunch game before Ronaldo showed a flash of his brilliance by assisting for Nani’s equaliser. Portugal were then shocked when the Hungarians went in front again, only for the Real Madrid man to really prove his worth minutes later.
Joao Mario found the ball on the right-hand side of the pitch and fired a cross into the box, and despite being closely marked, Ronaldo somehow caught the ball with a back-heeled, right-footed flick that sent it flying into the net. The speed of thought that the goal required was incredible – and made ‘CR7’ the first man to score in four successive European Championships.
Hungary went onto regain the lead, but of course, Ronaldo then struck for a second time – with a bullet header – to equalise.
Ronaldo’s last season at Real Madrid was another successful one; he scored 44 goals in all competitions as Los Blancos won four trophies, including the UEFA Champions League, and he started the campaign with a bang, helping Real to win the Supercopa de Espana with one of his greatest ever goals against Barcelona in the Nou Camp.
The game was tied at 1-1 going into the 80th minute when a Barcelona attack was stymied inside the Real penalty area, and Zinedine Zidane’s men quickly turned defence into an all-out assault. A quick break led to Ronaldo attacking from the left side of the pitch, and he quickly cut inside to the edge of the Barca box before smashing a right-footed shot past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and into the top corner of the net.
The strike gave Real a valuable away goal – but bizarrely, the Portuguese forward’s celebration cost him dearly, as he was booked for removing his shirt to show off his sculpted abs – and then picked up a second booking two minutes later, earning an unfortunate red card.
Ronaldo has always considered the UEFA Champions League his favourite hunting ground; he’s scored an insane 127 goals in the competition, thirteen more than his closest rival Lionel Messi, but arguably his greatest goal of all came for Real Madrid against Juventus in the 2017-18 edition of the tournament.
Real were faced with the Italian giants in the Quarter-Finals of the competition, and within 3 minutes of the first leg at the Allianz Stadium, Ronaldo had put Los Blancos ahead with a quick prod from Isco’s cross. He saved the best for the second half, though. Dani Carvajal sent a cross over the box, and the Portuguese leapt into the air and seemed to hang for an age before connecting cleanly with a beautiful bicycle kick.
The ball flew into the net past a static Gianluigi Buffon, as ‘CR7’ had defied the laws of physics again. Even by his standards, this was a special goal; it remains perhaps the greatest one scored in the modern era of the Champions League.
The match between Spain and Portugal on the opening weekend of the 2018 World Cup in Russia was comfortably the pick of the group stage fixtures, as the two neighbours had won four of the last five major international tournaments between them. So could Ronaldo decide the match? Of course, he could.
In a back-and-forth encounter, a ‘CR7’ penalty gave Portugal the lead, only for Spain to equalise on 24 minutes. A second goal from Ronaldo put Portugal back in front on the brink of half-time, but Spain scored twice in the second half to seemingly wrap the game up. When Portugal were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box with 3 minutes to go, though, the Real Madrid forward stepped up.
Surely he couldn’t pull off another miraculous hat-trick to rescue the game? In the end, he made everyone wonder why they ever doubted him. Ronaldo fired an unstoppable right-footed strike up and over the wall, sending it crashing into the net as Spain keeper David De Gea looked on, incapable of doing a thing.
Ronaldo had scored better free-kicks in his career, but never on a stage like this and under so much pressure. This was a truly brilliant – and miraculous – goal.
#10 vs. Manchester United, November 2018
Ronaldo had never been afraid to score goals against his old side Manchester United since leaving Old Trafford in 2009; when Real Madrid faced the Red Devils in the 2012-13 Champions League Round of 16, the Portuguese scored goals in both legs as Los Blancos won out 3-2 on aggregate.
When he moved to Juventus in 2018-19 – and they were drawn against United in the group stage of the Champions League – it seemed inevitable that he’d find the net against them once again. And naturally, despite Juve eventually losing the match at the Allianz Stadium 1-2, the Portuguese found the net with one of his very best strikes.
65 minutes into the match, Juve centre-back Leonardo Bonucci sent a long ball over the top of the United defence, and despite being marked, ‘CR7’ let the ball drop over his shoulder before unleashing an unstoppable volley past David De Gea and into the net – before lifting his shirt in celebration to show off his abs.
United fans remain fond of Ronaldo to this day – but they were not pleased on this night when he scored one of his best-ever goals past them.
