Cristiano Ronaldo has made history again. If we talk about legendary scorers, the Portuguese striker appears in capital letters among the best of all time, something he confirmed again this Tuesday. With a new double with Al Nassr, this time against Al Ittihad of his friend and former teammate Karim Benzema (2-5)the Funchal striker achieved what no one thought was possible: be the best scorer in the world in 2023.
When exactly one year ago Cristiano left Manchester United through the back door and announced his signing for Al Nassreveryone took two things for granted: one, that the Portuguese was finished and he was going to Saudi Arabia to live a golden retirement; and two, that Erik ten Hag was one of the few coaches with arrests to put the Portuguese star in his place, forcing him to leave Old Trafford. Just twelve months later, everything has turned around.
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El Confidencial Agencies
United is immersed in a serious game and identity crisis, with the Dutch coach more discussed than everwhile Cristiano Ronaldo continues breaking all kinds of records. In fact, with his double, the Portuguese has become the top scorer in 2023, with 53 goals, after scoring 41 with his club and 12 with Portugal. Or, in other words, CR7, the footballer of the gold withdrawalscored more goals than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé o Erling Haalandamong others.
It is no less true that the Saudi Pro League, at least the one Cristiano landed in, had a lower level than other competitions. But, in the same way, with the economic overexertion of the clubs in the summer market, the names that are part of the championship are not minor: Benzema, Mané, Brozovic, Neymar, Bono, Mahrez, Fabinho, Milinkovic-Savic, Laporte… Many renowned, international and world-class footballers who improve the level of the league.
About to turn 39 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo has not forgotten to score goals. Once again – and there are already several – he is once again the best scorer of the year, but there are many challenges that he still has ahead of him. If Portuguese is characterized by something, it is for being a record eater and, year after year, it puts brands on the table that it tries to beat. There are several that he has in the short term and that go through his mind to continue fattening the history books of world footballl.
The first is simple: be the footballer with most official matches in history. Currently, that record is Rogerio Ceniwith 1,225 matches, surpassing Peter Shilton (1.217) y Fabio (1.192). Just behind, In fourth position, Cristiano appears, with 1,191 matches behind him. Or, put another way, he is 34 games away from being the player with the most official matches of all time. The next active player after him is Leo Messialmost 150 away (1,045).
Another of them has to do with the national team championships. At the moment, He is already the footballer with the most World Cups played (tied with Messi, Rafa Márquez, Andrés Guardado, Lothar Matthäus y Antonio Carbajal), and dreams of reaching the 2026 edition. But, first, he has to play the Euro Cup next summer, a tournament where it is already the top scorer of all time (55 goals) and the footballer who he has played the most games in history (69).
But if there is something on his mind, it is a plan that he has already discussed several times. Asked about a hypothetical withdrawal, Cristiano assured that his idea was to play beyond the age of 40. But what need does a footballer who has already won everything and several times have to extend his career so much? Very easy: He dreams of, one day, being able to share the countryside with his son. At the moment, he has 744 goals in his life. Will it reach 1,000? It seems difficult, but with CR7 you can never say it is impossible.
2023-12-28 08:53:28
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