At over 39 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal this Thursday evening by taking a cross from Nuno Mendes against Croatia in the Nations League with Portugal. Certainly the penultimate vintage for the Al-Nassr striker, who has set himself the ultimate mission of reaching the 1,000 mark. First match of the rest of his career this Sunday evening, against Scotland (8:45 p.m.).
He had announced it even before the match. “I scored 130 goals [en sélection]I have the record, Cristiano Ronaldo explained to Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel at the end of August, as if to respond to criticism of his failed Euro. And I intend to improve it further. Soon, I will have scored 900 goals [au total]. » Of course, the most teasing will recall that he only needed one goal to reach this vintage at the time of publication of the video.
Follow the US Open and the Vuelta in full on Eurosport via the Max streaming platform But still, the realization of this symbolic bar particularly moved him. A cross from Nuno Mendes in the area, a victorious shot from close range, and Cristiano Ronaldo even forgot his favorite celebration. There, prostrate in a corner of the Estadio de la Luz in Lisbon, he who is usually so assertive, communicative in his joy of scoring, collapsed under the emotion. This time, no angry ‘SIUU’, only the immediate realization of his accomplishment, in front of his audience already brandishing signs flanked by a ‘CR7 GOAT’ (Greatest of All Time).
In recent months, this is not the first time that we have seen him emotional like this. But his tears after Al-Nassr’s defeat in the penalty shootout in the final of the King’s Cup of Champions at the end of May, or after missing a penalty with Portugal at the Euro had frustrated him more than liberated him. This time, finally, he was able to savor and above all take a step closer to his ultimate aspiration for his career: “I want to reach 1,000 goals,” he said in his podcast with Rio Ferdinand. At 41, I don’t know yet. I want to live in the moment, but if I don’t have any injuries, that’s my last goal.”
“The best target I can have in football is to first reach 900, and then my challenge is to reach 1,000,” he continued. “With one difference: all the goals I scored were filmed, so I can prove that I scored them. They are all on video.” Saying this with a smile, Cristiano Ronaldo half-heartedly aims at Pelé and Romario’s goal records. The two Brazilian legends claim to have already crossed this mark for years. But they counted their goals in friendly matches, and even some with youth teams for Romario.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s total, on the other hand, is solely the result of official competitive matches. “And if you want more goals, I can take those from training too,” he added, mockingly. Behind all this lies above all his intact will to prove his worth, constantly, as if he had never done enough to be sufficiently respected. Because even if he has explained, and repeated over and over again that at 39 years old he no longer “cares about the opinions of others”, this hunger still inhabits him.
I scored 60 goals this seasonHe gave himself away in one sentence. “And if after [avoir atteint les 1 000 buts]they prefer this player or that player, it doesn’t matter to me.” As if this record made his status as the best of all time indisputable in fact, and that the rest of the debates would simply be a question of sensitivity. Perhaps that is what makes his dream so realistic: nothing has changed in Cristiano Ronaldo’s head, and he must have laughed with exasperation when he discovered that his name did not appear in the list of 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or.
So this Sunday night, against Scotland, he has the opportunity to score the first of his last 100 goals. He will surely go further than 1000, but what does it matter? “I know that I can still dribble, shoot, score goals, jump, … The day I start to feel that I can no longer produce anything, I pack my bags and leave,” he explained in a burst of lucidity. But Ronaldo remains Ronaldo: “It’s still a long way off, because as I said, and I don’t want to seem arrogant, I scored 60 goals this season.” At this rate, the 1000 will be reached in 2026. Pelé had waited to play against Vasco de Gama, his father’s club, for the symbol of his 1000th goal. Ronaldo will be able to score it against Damac FC or Al-Taawoun. The face still takes a hit.
