Football Legends: Cristiano Ronaldo

The club and international career of Cristiano Ronaldo, one of Europe's best.

Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest football players of all time and possibly one of the greatest athletes of all time. Excluding the World Cup, Ronaldo has won every footballing silverware and award out there.

Ronaldo is one more Champions League title away from holding the record for most wins. Do you think Ronaldo will break that record this year? Betting on the Champions League can be done here.

Today, we are going to take a look at his career so far.

His Club Career

Ronaldo began his club career with Sporting CP who signed him at age 12 for $1500. He played 25 games for the senior team and scored 2 goals before being sold to Manchester United for £12.4 million.

That fee made Ronaldo the most expensive teenager in the Premier League at the time and he was the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United. When he arrived at the club he was given David Beckham's former number.

He played with the team from 2003-2009, in that time scoring 84 goals, they won the Champions League, and the team won the Premier League multiple times. During this time he won his first Ballon d'Or.

Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid for £80 million (a record breaking fee at the time). While playing for Real Madrid Ronaldo scored 311 in 292 appearances and became Madrid's all time highest goal scorer. He also won 4 more Ballon O'dors while playing for Madrid.

Ronaldo and Madrid won the Champions League 4 times during his 9 years at the club, they also won La Liga twice, and the FIFA Club World Cup 3 times. Ronaldo repeatedly donated his winning bonuses to charity during this time. During 2015 he donated well over $5 million to different charities and causes.

In 2018, Ronaldo was sold to Juventus for £100 million, making him the most expensive over 30 year old ever. With Juventus, Ronaldo won the Serie A twice in a row, they won the Coppa Italia twice and the Supercoppa twice as well. He scored 101 goals for Juventus in 98 games.

Return To Man Utd

In 2021, Ronaldo's career took a shocking turn - he announced that he would be returning to Manchester United. This time Ronaldo was sold to the club for £12.5 million. The announcement of his return broke Manchester United's website as they sold record breaking amounts of his shirt.

Ronaldo scored in his first match back with United and went on to score in his second match as well. This match was a Champions League match against Villarreal. With this cap, Ronaldo broke the record for most appearances in the Champions League.

He then helped the team come back from 0-2 down to win 3-2 against Atlanta in their next Champions League match. Ronaldo came on and scored the winning goal by heading the ball in with 9 minutes left to go on the clock. 

His International Career

Ronaldo plays for Portugal and has been captain of the team since 2007 when he was just 22.

During his time as captain, the team has won the Euros (2016) and the UEFA Nations League (2018). He has also taken the team to the last 16 of the World Cup multiple times.

Ronaldo is the only Portuguese player to score a goal in 3 world cups, he has scored in 4. He holds the record for most international goals scored by a Portuguese player. And he is the first man to ever score 10 international hattricks.

He has scored over 100 international goals and as of 2021, he holds the record for most international goals scored. And is also the most capped international player in the history of European football. He is the 4th most capped player of all time.

Ronaldo played for the Portugal national team at every level from under-15s right the way through to the senior team. He got 34 junior caps and scored 18 goals while playing for the junior teams.

The legendary striker made his first appearance for the senior team at age 18 in 2004. He scored his first international goal at the Euros later that year.  

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