For making Champions League history, Cristiano Ronaldo will have a special reward to receive.
Next Thursday, August 29, Real Madrid and all the other clubs involved in the Champions League will know their opponents, who will number 8. Goodbye to the groups with four teams, hello to the championship format where you will have to finish among the top 8 to qualify for the knockout phase. The teams between 9th and 14th place will play a play-off on a double confrontation to reach the round of 16.
As for the dates, the first day will be played between September 17 and 19 and the eighth and final day will take place on January 29, 2025. The draw will take place this Thursday and this new format will offer bigger matches because each team will face two teams from pot 1, two teams from pot 2, two teams from pot 3 and two teams from pot 4. Clubs from the same country can also face each other.
On the occasion of this event, UEFA has also decided to honour the greatest player in its competition, Cristiano Ronaldo. Indeed, the European football body announced on Tuesday that the Portuguese player would receive a special award from President Ceferin for one of the greatest achievements of his career, his 140 goals in the Champions League.
With 140 goals scored in 183 matches in the most prestigious European tournament, the 39-year-old striker is eleven goals ahead of his great rival, the Argentinian Lionel Messi, and 46 ahead of the Polish Robert Lewandowski.
The five-time winner of the competition, once with Manchester United (2008) and four with Real Madrid (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), has been playing since January 2023 for the Saudi club Al-Nassr, with whom he won the Arab Champions Cup.
Ronaldo also holds the record for the longest scoring streak in the Champions League, having scored in eleven consecutive matches from June 2017 to April 2018, he said. l’UEFAThe five-time Ballon d’Or winner also scored 17 times in the premier competition in 2013/14 with Real Madrid, his record in a season.
“His consistent excellence at the highest level is a testament to his tireless pursuit of collective and individual titles. For more than two decades, he has continued to evolve and improve his game,” praised the head of the European body, Aleksander Ceferin.
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