Cristiano Ronaldo does not appear to be slowing down.
The 39-year-old Portuguese forward moved to Saudi Arabia club Al Nassr from Manchester United in December 2022.
This past season, Ronaldo broke the Saudi Pro League single-season record for the most goals scored with 35. He now has 64 goals in 69 matches in the Saudi League
Ronaldo is the Portugal National Team’s all-time leading scorer with 127 goals. He also has the most all-time appearances (25) and goals scored (14) in the European championships.
He is the first player to be the top scorer in four different leagues—the English Premier League, Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain, and the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo had two goals in Al-Nassr’s 4-2 win against Al-Ittihad to reach 35. Abderrazak Hamdallah held the previous record of 34 goals for Al Nassr in 2018-19, though he played in four fewer matches.
Al-Nassr, the 18-time Saudi champions, finished in second place with 82 points behind Al-Hilal, which finished with 96 points.
“I’m very happy,” Ronaldo said in an interview with SSC, “Firstly because the team won and finished the league well. Then to break a league goal record, I have to confess it makes me very happy, I wasn’t expecting it. For me it’s important.”
“The most important thing is always the team. We are in good shape. We ended the league well and now we have to win the King’s Cup.”
Over his career, Ronaldo has won five Ballon d'Or awards for the best player in the world and five Champions League titles. His move to Saudi Arabia was the first he played outside of Europe for the first time in his career, which he began at age 16 in his native Portugal.
Ronaldo was sold to Manchester United in 2003 and began to make his mark in European soccer. He scored 42 goals in his first season in Manchester, earning the Golden Shoe award as Europe’s leading scorer. Ronaldo was also a key player in United’s run to a Champions League title in 2008,
Ronaldo was named the FIFA World Player of the Year for the 2007–08 season.
Manchester United sold Ronaldo to Real Madrid in Spain for a reported $131 million in 2009. He responded by scoring 40 goals in his first season—the most in La Liga history at the time. He also helped Real Madrid with the La Liga championship in 2011-12 and won his second FIFA World Player of the Year the following season. He also led Real Madrid to four Champions League titles in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Overall, he has 311 goals in 292 matches for Real Madrid.
In July 2018, Ronaldo signed a four-year, $132 million contract with Juventus in Italy and scored 28 goals in his first season. The following year, Ronaldo helped Juventus win the Serie A title, in addition to the 2020 Supercoppa Italiana and the 2021 Coppa Italia Final.
In 2021, re-signed with Manchester United, but he could not recapture his former success, which prompted the move to Saudi Arabia.
Now, after another successful season, Ronaldo is poised to boost Portugal’s hopes for another title in this summer’s UEFA Euro Championship.
