Ronaldo reaches 900 career goals

Thursday was a major milestone in Cristiano Ronaldo's legendary career as he scored the 900th goal.

In Portugal's 2-0 Nations League victory against Croatia, the 39-year-old scored a goal.

The forward's impassioned jubilation became so intense that he wept as he knelt by the corner flag.

This was his 131st goal for his nation; in his club career, he has also scored for Al-Nassr, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, and Sporting Lisbon.

Someone born when Ronaldo scored his first competitive goal would be 21 years old today; such is his longevity.

On October 7, 2002, in a 3-0 victory against Moreirense, he scored twice for Sporting of Portugal when he was 17, 8 months, and three days old.

After that, he went to Manchester United, where he scored 118 goals in 293 appearances. 2009 he joined Real Madrid for 94 million euros, or £80 million.

Before joining Juventus of Italy, he spent nine years scoring 450 goals in 438 appearances for the Spanish giants.

After spending three years with the Italian club, he returned to United and scored 27 goals in 54 appearances, bringing his total to a whopping 151.

He moved to Saudi Arabia in 2023 to play for Al-Nassr, where he has scored 68 goals. Unfortunately, his return to the Red Devils did not end happily ever after.

Ronaldo's career goals

Is Ronaldo the all-time leading scorer?

Ronaldo scored 800 goals during his second stint at Manchester United, putting him in first place for official games played at a high level. Still, a central database needs to be established to determine the all-time greatest scorer in men's football.

When you take out the friendly matches, the goal totals that Brazilian icons Pele and Romario claimed to have scored fall into the 700s.

Private statisticians: According to NSF and other sources, Romario scored 785 goals, whereas Pele scored 778.

Lionel Messi has scored 867 goals throughout his career, making him Ronaldo's longtime nemesis.

Ronaldo hasn't finished yet—"I want 1,000"

Even though he is already 39 years old, Ronaldo is hell-bent on continuing to play until he has scored an unbelievable 1,000 goals in his career.

Ronaldo expressed confidence in reaching the milestone over the next few years when speaking to Rio Ferdinand, a former teammate at Manchester United, in an interview on his YouTube channel.

"I want to reach 1,000 goals," he said.

"If I don't have any injuries, this for me is the most important [thing], I want that.

"All the goals I have scored, they have video."

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