The UEFA announced on Aug. 27 that it will bestow a special award to the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo for scoring the most goals in Champions League history.
The Portuguese forward has 140 goals in 83 Champions League games, edging out longtime rival, Lionel Messi, who has 129 goals. Those 140 goals are part of the 899 all-time goals that Ronaldo has scored for both Portugal and the various clubs he’s played for throughout his senior career.
With 900 goals just around the corner, and a 23-year career that isn’t slowing down, Ronaldo reflected on what goal he wants to accomplish after reaching 900.
He’s achieved almost everything there is to accomplish in the sport, but he revealed the biggest ambition still ahead of him, in an interview with former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand.
“For me, the best mark that I can have in football is to reach, first, 900 goals. After, my challenge is to be at 1,000 goals, with one difference: All the goals I have scored, they have video, so I can prove it. They all have video.”
Ferdinand then listed players like Pele and Alfredo Di Stefano, who have high all-time goal tallies but played in eras in which not all the goals were documented on video. Thus, many consider their goal counts to be unofficial. Ronaldo says the fact that his goals are all documented on video proves his goal mark is legitimate.
“Listen, I respect all of them [Pele and Di Stefano], and if you want more goals, I can bring them from training, too,” he said. “So no problem, and I will prove to the people after. They prefer this player, or this is the best one. I don’t care about that.”
He’s averaging more than a goal per game with Al-Nassr, having scored 51 goals in 49 matches. By comparison, in his last stop in one of the Big Five European leagues, Ronaldo averaged less than one goal every two games as he scored 19 goals in 40 matches with Manchester United from 2021 to 2022.
For the Portuguese national team, his goal scoring prowess has dried up a bit as his 40th birthday approaches next year. Ronaldo took part in the 2024 European Championships for Portugal and started all five games. However, he failed to score during his 485 minutes on the pitch as Portugal bowed out in the quarterfinals. It marked the first international tournament of his career in which he failed to find the back of the net.
“I don’t know when I’m going to finish, if you ask me,” Ronaldo said. “Of course, I’m closer to the finish. ... Since you play more, you learn many, many things. One thing that I’ve learned is enjoy the moment, live the moment. Because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“So I know that I’m still looking good. I feel that I still can dribble, still shoot, score goals, jumping. The day that I start to feel I don’t produce nothing, listen, I‘ll pack my bags and I’ll go away. But it’s far from that.”
When it comes to goal scoring, few can match the achievements of Ronaldo, whether with club or country. With Manchester United, he led the Premier League in scoring once, and then led La Liga in goals three times while with Real Madrid. Then, he moved to Italy and Juventus, where he led that league in scoring once before topping the Saudi Pro League last season.
He’s a three-time European Golden Shoe winner, which is awarded to the leading scorer across all of Europe’s top divisions. Ronaldo has also led the Champions League in scoring six different times, which is playing a part in UEFA giving him the aforementioned award.
With Portugal, he holds the record for the most goals in the European Championship and has found the back of the net 130 times for his nation. That is nearly three times as many as the Portuguese player with the next most, and that tally is the most ever by any player in international play.
