On the 5th of February 1985, a baby boy named Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born in Funchal. Today we know that baby as Cristiano Ronaldo or CR7, one of the greatest footballers of all time, both in Portugal and worldwide. A true star on the pitch and an exceptional person off it. A record-breaker like few others, who last weekend reached the milestone of 1,000 official matches as a senior footballer. Interestingly, in that very match between Juventus and SPAL in Italy’s Serie A, the Portuguese star found the net once again and managed to set two records in a single day: reaching 1,000 official matches as a senior footballer and extending his scoring streak to 11 consecutive league matches whilst wearing the Juventus jersey in the Italian league, all whilst sporting his Nike Mercurials.
Cristiano Ronaldo sporting career
Regarded by many as a footballer even better than Eusébio, Cristiano Ronaldo has always spoken with great respect of the ‘Black Panther’ and has no hesitation in stating that breaking any of the former SL Benfica player’s records is an honour for him. However, the figures speak for themselves: the Portuguese player has scored 725 official goals in 1,000 matches, spread across the Portugal national team, Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Sporting de Lisboa
The footballer from Madeira began playing football at Andorinha de Madeira when he was just 8 years old. At the age of 10, he joined Nacional de Madeira and, barely two years later, Sporting CP signed him as part of their commitment to developing young talent. It was in Lisbon that Cristiano Ronaldo began to make a name for himself and take his first steps as a promising young footballer. However, his spell with the first team was very brief: he played just 25 matches in the Liga NOS and scored three goals – performances that were enough to attract the interest of some of Europe’s top clubs.
Manchester United
The story of CR7’s move to Manchester United is known around the world. However, this was one of those moments that seem straight out of a dream and are unlikely to be repeated in the world of football. A player who, at just 18 years of age, put in a brilliant performance against one of the world’s top clubs and managed to attract the interest of that very same team to the point where they signed him just a few days later. And, as if that weren’t enough, he ended up being given the Red Devils’ legendary number 7 shirt, a number previously worn by legends such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Éric Cantona and David Beckham. Cristiano Ronaldo was not daunted by the pressure. During his time in Manchester, he won eight team titles and several individual honours, as well as scoring 84 competitive goals in 196 Premier League matches for the Red Devils.
Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo never made a secret of his desire to play for Real Madrid, the club he had always regarded as one of the greatest in the world. That dream came true on the 11th of June 2009, when the Portuguese player became the most expensive signing in history up to that point and took centre stage at a mass presentation attended by thousands of fans at the Santiago Bernabéu. In Madrid, CR7 reached a whole new level. The Portuguese star became a true club legend and racked up some spectacular statistics: 311 competitive goals in 292 La Liga matches. During his nine seasons as a Real Madrid player, he won numerous team and individual honours, including four Champions League titles and three Ballon d’Or awards.
Juventus
On the 10th of July 2018, Real Madrid officially announced the agreement with Juventus regarding the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo. After almost 10 years wearing the white jersey, the Portuguese player brought his time at the Santiago Bernabéu to an end – a departure that many felt did not do justice to the stature of the legend he was leaving behind. In Turin, Cristiano Ronaldo continued to break records. As well as winning Serie A, he became the first footballer in history to win the league titles in all three of Europe’s major leagues: the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A.
Portugal
His career with the Portugal senior national team began in 2003, in a match against Kazakhstan. Since then, through Euro 2004 and right up to the most recent Nations League final, Cristiano Ronaldo has continued to make history with his country. His honours list with Portugal includes two major titles: Euro 2016 and the Nations League. He has also scored 99 goals in 164 international matches.
These are just some of the highlights of Cristiano Ronaldo’s sporting career. He is undoubtedly one of the best footballers in the world, if not the best. What is your opinion of the Portuguese star?
