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UEFA Champions League Goal King Cristiano Ronaldo sits atop the throne once more. And he has no plans on being usurped. Not again.
After beginning the campaign level with Lionel Messi in the duo’s ceaseless battle for the crown, the Portuguese is now seven clear of his rival after hitting 12 in just seven UCL games so far this season.
The two have spent the best part of a decade attempting to outdo one another, but Cristiano would be the first to admit that the rivalry continues to drive him forward. “Competition helps me to be a better player, of course,” he told France Football in 2014.
But there is no greater competition than the one he has with himself. Originally a lightweight, tricky winger with a penchant for a stepover or 5, Cristiano’s unrivalled devotion to his craft is what has made him a Uefa Champions League Goal King.
Because for all his remarkable talent, Cristiano wasn’t a natural goalscorer: his first UCL goal arrived on his 30th appearance in the competition, when he began making up for lost time by hitting two against Roma for Manchester United.
The following season he hit eight more, finishing the UCL’s top scorer as he claimed his first European crown. A staggering 74 have followed since he joined Real Madrid in 2009, in just 70 UCL matches.
Long gone is the teenager who utilised the rabona to avoid using his left foot altogether – 14 have been driven in off his weaker side. While he was once reluctant to even make an aerial challenge – 15 UCL goals have now been headed home. And the kid who needed encouragement to try his luck from range now has now driven in a UCL record 15 from outside the penalty area.
"Being a good professional is 70 per cent of being successful as a player," he says. Few have had a more professional approach to their personal development than the man who does 3,000 sit ups per day. The wispy-haired teenager they once said lacked an end product is now a distant memory.
He’s been the UCL’s top scorer for the last three consecutive seasons (sharing top spot with Messi and Neymar in 2014-15). He’s hit 40 knockout-stage goals, eight of which arrived in 2014 when he set an all-time UCL season total of 17 to lead Madid to their long-awaited 10th European crown. He’s the only player to win the UCL as top scorer with two different clubs.
He has four UCL hat-tricks. And while the numbers say he scores a goal every 117 UCL minutes, that total is skewed by the young Cristiano. The Madrid Cristiano strikes once every 85 UCL minutes.
He headed into Matchday 7A facing criticism over his away form. But from the split second he cut inside from the left at Stadio Olimpico, the Romans knew their empire was about to crumble. Cristiano answered his critics emphatically, smashing in his fifth away goal of this UCL campaign alone. It was his 44th overall on the road, a number nobody can better. And so is grand total.
89 and counting. And there’s a lot of counting still to be done.
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