Cristiano Ronaldo reached a career
landmark on Monday by scoring his 700th career goal in Portugal’s Euro 2020 qualifier at Ukraine.
The 34-year-old scored a penalty as Portugal lost 2-1.
His 700 goals so far have come from 973 matches – and he has scored at least once in 458 of those.
His goal in the 2-1 loss to Ukraine was also his 95th for Portugal, leaving only Iranian Ali Daei in front in the international charts on 109 goals.
The win for Ukraine, meanwhile, means they have qualified for Euro 2020.
Joining the greats
Gerd Muller, Ferenc Puskas, Pele, Romario, Josef Bican are the only players to have scored more than Ronaldo
Ronaldo’s goal means he joins an elite group of players to have hit at least 700 goals in their career.
According to data from Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, Juventus forward Ronaldo is still some way behind the most prolific player of all time, with Czech-Austrian Josef Bican scoring 805 career goals.
Next on the list is Brazil legend Romario, who bagged 772, while his compatriot Pele is third on 767.
Hungary legend Ferenc Puskas hit 746 goals, while former Germany striker Gerd Muller rounds out the top five with 735 goals.
A career packed with goals
Real Madrid were the biggest beneficiary of Ronaldo’s goals.
He scored 450 times for the Spanish giants, with 118 of his 700 goals coming during the early part of his career at Manchester United from 2003 to 2009.
His 95 goals for Portugal is more than double the tally of any other player to have featured for the national team. Pauleta has the second most with 47.
Ronaldo’s favourite opponents
Sweden are one of four teams Ronaldo has scored the most against at international level with five goals
Andorra, Armenia, Latvia and Sweden are the countries to have suffered the most at the hands of Ronaldo, who has scored five goals against each of them.
He has four apiece versus Estonia, Faroe Islands, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg and the Netherlands but has never scored against France,