Cristiano Ronaldo: What Have Meen the Most Important Goals of His Career?

Until the date of writing this article, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro reached 807 goals scored in official matches as a professional, a figure that places him as the top scorer of all time. The Portuguese continues to show that at 37 years of age he still has fuel left to continue spreading his legend in the world of soccer.

Since 1991, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has been in charge of compiling all these numbers. And it is that as expected, due to various circumstances that range from the time to the place, there is an absence of reliable data that makes it difficult to establish the list of top scorers in history without errors or omissions. With all that, the IFFHS affirms with certainty that Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed the Austrian Josef Bican, who for decades led the classification with 805 goals.

Since his debut with Sporting Lisbon in 2002, Cristiano Ronaldo's evolution has been gigantic, and that is no secret to anyone. His time in elite teams such as Manchester United, Juventus Turin and Real Madrid has been marked by countless goals and titles. Of course, to all this we must add his performances with the Portugal National team, where he has also made it clear that his performances are decisive. What have been your most epic and memorable moments?

Man Utd

Cristiano Ronaldo only needed one season at Sporting, with 5 goals scored in 25 games, to make the leap to a Premier League giant. In total he scored 118 goals in 292 official matches in his first period with Manchester United. What were your most decisive annotations?

During the FA Cup Final in 2004, Cristiano was responsible for opening the scoring and thus guiding United to a 3–0 win against Millwall.

On matchdays 19, 20 and 21 of the 2006-07 Premier League, the Portuguese scored braces in every game to propel the team to first place in the table. At the end of this season there were crowned champions with a 6-point lead.

Finally, were it not for a solitary goal in the round of 16 second leg against Lyon, Manchester would not have reached the final of the 2007-08 edition of the Champions League, where he even scored the first goal of that match. In the end they lifted the title after winning the penalty shootout.

Real Madrid

In 2009 he landed in one of the biggest clubs in Europe for an incredible amount of money that made him the most expensive signing in history, until then. They were 9 magical seasons for a Cristiano Ronaldo who won practically everything, standing out on multiple occasions with memorable performances and goals. 450 goals in 438 duels, how to choose the most decisive of this stage?

Among the many duels Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona that he lived through, one of the most remembered is the 2010-11 Copa del Rey final. There, after 90 minutes of intensity that ended in a goalless draw, Cristiano scored the final 0-1 scoreline in the first half of extra time with a magnificent header.

Many must remember the so-called "Record League", the one where Real Madrid was crowned champion by achieving a record 100 points. If there is a game that was undoubtedly decisive, it is matchday 35, against Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Cristiano scored the winning goal (1-2) that sentenced the League in favor of his team.

And what about the Champions League? In 2015-16 (the edition where they won the eleventh) he scored a hattrick to come back from the tie against Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals. While in 2016-17 he scored 5 of the 6 goals with which they eliminated Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, a hattrick against Atlético de Madrid in the first leg of the semifinals, and a double in the final against Juventus.

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Juventus

After winning his fifth Champions League and being the top scorer of the tournament for the sixth time in a row, Cristiano Ronaldo looked for new challenges and caused a stir when he arrived in Turin to play for Juventus. In this way, the Portuguese was preparing to take on the challenge of conquering a different league at 32 years of age. In his 3 seasons in Italy he scored a total of 101 goals. Was there any determinant with the Bianconeri?

With just a few months of adaptation, Cristiano did what he always did so that Juventus won their eighth Italian Super Cup (2018). The meeting in Saudi Arabia pitted them against AC Milan and was decided by a lone headed goal from the Portuguese in the 60th minute.

For the 2018-19 edition of the Champions League, Cristiano once again had one of those magical nights. After losing the first leg 2-0 against Atlético de Madrid, the attacker scored 3 goals to turn the tie around and advance to the quarterfinals, where they were eliminated against Ajax 3-2 on aggregate despite his two goals.

Portuguese national team

His first appearance with the Portuguese national team was in 2003, and since then he has been present in the best participations of his nation: runner-up in Euro 2004, fourth place in the 2006 World Cup, fourth place in Euro 2012, champion of Euro 2016 and the League of Nations 2018-19. To date, he is Portugal's all-time top scorer with 115 goals. And yes, with them he also scored decisive goals.

In the playoffs of the 2014 Brazil Qualifiers, Cristiano not only scored the 1-0 first leg, but also a hattrick to defeat Sweden 2-3 and thus inscribe the name of Portugal in another World Cup.

During Euro 2016, there were two crucial games where his role was relevant to reach the final. On matchday 3 of the group stage, he scored twice to make it 3-3 against Hungary, and in the semi-finals he led the way with a goal to make it 2-0 against Wales.

In the Final Four of the League of Nations, Cristiano scored a hattrick again in the 3-1 victory against Switzerland in the semifinals, thus contributing to Portugal playing and subsequently winning the final of that tournament.