Ronaldo reaches 900 career goals – the numbers behind the landmark

Cristiano Ronaldo reached a significant milestone on Thursday by scoring the 900th goal of his illustrious career.

The 39-year-old struck for Portugal in their Nations League game against Croatia, putting them 2-0 up.

It prompted an emotional celebration by the forward, as he dropped to his knees by the corner flag in tears.

The goal was his 131st for his country, while he has also scored at club level for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and current club Al-Nassr.

“It was emotional because it’s a milestone,” Ronaldo said. “It seems like any other milestone but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals.

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

Such is Ronaldo’s longevity that if someone was born when he scored the first competitive goal of his career they would now be 21.

He struck a double for Portugal’s Sporting on 7 October 2002 at the age of 17 years, eight months and three days in a 3-0 win against Moreirense.

He then moved to Manchester United, scoring 118 goals in 293 games for the Red Devils before joining Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world record 94m euros (£80m).

In nine years at the Spanish giants, he scored 450 goals in just 438 games before making the move to Italy to join Juventus.

He added another 101 goals to his tally during his three years with the Italian club before returning to United, where he would score 27 goals in 54 games.

But a return to the Red Devils did not have a fairytale ending – and in 2023 he made the move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, where he has got 68 goals and counting.

Incredibly, almost half of Ronaldo’s goals (437) have been scored since he turned 30 in February 2015.

According to Opta:

The teams Ronaldo has scored most goals against in his career so far are: Sevilla (27); Atlético de Madrid (25); Getafe (23); Barcelona (20); Celta de Vigo (20)

There is no central database to establish men’s football’s all-time top scorer, but Ronaldo was already leading the way for official games at a high level, having surpassed 800 goals during his second spell at Manchester United.

Brazil legends Pele and Romario separately claimed to have scored more than 1,000 goals each, but filter out friendlies and those numbers drop down into the 700s.

Unofficial statisticians RSSSF, external say Pele got 778 goals, while Romario scored 785.

Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s long-time rival, has scored 867 career goals to date.

Now 39, time is not on Ronaldo’s side but the veteran is determined to keep playing until he has reached the figure of 1,000 career goals.

Speaking to his former Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand in an interview on his YouTube channel, external, Ronaldo said he was confident he could hit the milestone within the next couple of years.

“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.”

Ronaldo could play into his 40s and there has been plenty of speculation about whether he will be still be playing for Portugal at the 2026 World Cup.

But he said that was not a priority, adding: “Portugal winning the 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. I’m motivated by enjoying football and the records come naturally.”