Cristiano Ronaldo’s Century of Goals in Real Shirt and the Talk of His Greatness
Cristiano Ronaldo achieves another routine landmark in his professional football career; notched up his 100th goal in style for Real Madrid in only 105 games as he had grabbed a brace in their last Champions League 4-0 victory over Olympique Lyon. Apparently, the Real Madrid record £80 million signing from Manchester United in 2009 demands at this stage, an evaluation if he is still to be considered in terms of being precociously prodigal or his greatness calls for a due appraisal.
A quick glance at Ronaldo’s career graph at the club level reveals that the Portugal captain has only gone from strength to strength over the years. The greater chunk of the former Manchester United star’s days at Old Trafford are seemingly summed up by his fast-growing prominence in world football even as, the gifted forward bordered along the last line which he needed to cross over to break into the exclusive club of footballing greats; having scored 118 goals for the Reds, and winning three Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, and one Champions League medal en route.
Eventually, Real Madrid materialized as Ronaldo’s current destination while as, perhaps providing him the greatest challenge of his career. All the same, the change of scene has only been testimony to the 26-year-old striker’s ever-growing stature; his Real scoring stats does betray a lot in this regard. As yet, Ronaldo does not have much to show for in a Real shirt though. But, nobody can do it all on their own in football.
And then, the inevitable comparisons with Lionel Messi; although Messi notably has the upper hand, they are not far apart. Perhaps they constitute a league of their own. When it comes to playing for their respective countries, Messi and Ronaldo both don the captain’s armband; they have not been as effective at international duty though, and there is hardly any other player in the world who is as prolific scorers and as crucial as they are at club level.
Just that, Messi and Ronaldo are live portrayals of contrasting personalities off the pitch; the former is grounded and modesty personified while the latter is known for his high self-regard. As well, 24-year old Messi mostly had come out on top as far as their meetings in El Classicos are concerned and that, the jewel of Barcelona has netted 122 goals in the time Ronaldo notched up his century of Real goals. All said and done; it seems that, fans stand to continue to marvel at the rivalry of the generation for many more years.
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