Records haunt me - Emotional Ronaldo says after hitting 900-career goals milestone

Friday, 6 September, 2024 

McCreadie Andias 

39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Croatia in the UEFA Nations league to reach the 900-goal mark in his career at a match played in Estádio da Luz in Lisbon on Thursday, 5 September, 2024. 

Ronaldo needed just 1238 official games to reach 900 goals - an average of 0.73 per game. The special moment came in the 34th minute of the first half - CR7 received a cross from Nuno Mendes and slotted it home with no chance for Livakovic. In celebration, he got down on one knee and became overwhelmed with emotions.

Cristiano Ronaldo's milestone moment means that he's also scored 437 goals since turning 30 years old. That's more than Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry, and Wayne Rooney across their entire careers 

Of Cristiano Ronaldo's 900 goals, this was his 131st in the Portugal shirt (in 213 games). The 39-year-old is the all-time leading scorer in the history of international football.

His other 769 goals have come for the five clubs Cristiano Ronaldo has played for during his career: Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al Nassr.

Ronaldo has scored fivw times for Sporting Lisbon, 145 goals for Manchester United, 450 goals for Real Madrid, 101 goals for Juventus and 68 goals for Saudi - based Al-Nassr where he currently plays on club lever with 131 goals being for Portugal national team. 

During a post-match interview, Ronaldo expressed his happiness to the new milestone. 

“900 goals seems like any other milestone, but only I know how hard it is to work every day to score your 900th goal”.

“It's a unique milestone in my career”.

“I don’t break records… they haunt me!”. He said. 

“I’m 39 and a half years old… I have to be very focused for things to go well. It takes a lot of dedication. That’s why, when these records happen, I get so emotional”.he added. 

He also noted that Portugal's 2016 Euro triumph over France was no lesser than a world cup victory. 

“Portugal winning Euros is equivalent to winning a world cup”

“I’ve already won two trophies for Portugal that I really wanted. I’m not motivated by that, it’s way different”. Ronaldo said. 

Real Madrid sent a warm congratulations message for Cristiano Ronaldo after reaching the milestone. 

"Another historic milestone: 900 goals in the professional career of one of the greatest legends of Real Madrid and world football. 

Congratulations, dear and admired Cristiano! Real Madrid and Madrid fans are always proud of you."The club said in a statement.

The 39-year old has made it clear of his plans to play in the 2026 world cup where he will be 42 years.