Back in 2016, Real Madrid-linked coach Xabi Alonso opened up about how Cristiano Ronaldo scored so many goals on the pitch. The legendary Portuguese striker has racked up over 900 career goals so far, and could be the first player to hit the 1000-goal mark.
Alonso and Ronaldo played together at Real Madrid, giving the Bayer Leverkusen manager further insight into the latter’s goalscoring ability. In an interview with Onda Cero in 2016, Alonso admired Ronaldo’s adaptability, explaining (via SPORTbible):
Fast-forward to the current era, and Cristiano Ronaldo still displays his goal-scoring ability with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. Since January 2023, when he moved to the Gulf country, Ronaldo has netted 97 goals in 109 matches across all competitions.
In the 2023-24 campaign alone, Ronaldo set a fresh league record by netting 35 goals, breaking the previous mark shared by Abderrazak Hamdallah. This made him the first player to succeed as the leading scorer in four leagues: the English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Saudi Pro League.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s massive move from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018 was motivated by no longer feeling “indispensable” at the Santiago Bernabeu. The transfer brought an end to a record-breaking nine-year Spain spell.
It capped a period that featured the Portuguese forward securing four Champions League titles and setting a record as the club’s sole all-time leading scorer with 450 goals. Although stating in 2017 that he would retire to Madrid, Ronaldo changed his mind the next year.
Speaking with France Football in 2018, he revealed that his worth to the club had decreased, at least in Real Madrid president Florentino Perez’s view (via GOAL):
Cristiano Ronaldo has since left Juventus, returning to Manchester United for a short spell, before leaving Europe for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Nnanna’s favorite club is English team Bolton Wanderers because he witnessed Nigeria legend Jay-Jay Okocha’s play for them between 2002 and 2006. His favorite footballer is Ronaldinho due to the Brazilian’s love for the sport and admires Pep Guardiola for redefining football tactics. As a former literature student, Nnanna reckons that the best way of connecting with the readers is to add a bit of empathy in his writing, and relies on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and WhoScored for his articles.
Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup trophy in 2022 is Nnanna’s favorite FIFA World Cup moment, and also follows Major League Soccer due to the diminutive Argentine. He strongly believes that Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could be the next two superstars in the same light as legendary pair Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
When not writing, he likes to play Football Manager and other simulation games.
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