Despite being 38 and supposedly in the twilight of his career, Cristiano Ronaldo shows no signs of letting up.
While the argument over whether Ronaldo or Messi is the greatest player of all-time will go on forever, the Portuguese superstar provided a reminder of his quality with four goals over his country’s two matches in recent days.
His two strikes in Monday’s 5-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina means Ronaldo now has 127 international goals in 203 caps, while he has netted 859 times in total during his career.
Speaking last week, Ronaldo – who became FIFA’s all-time leading goalscorer in 2022 – insisted he wants to score 1,000 goals before he retires after being challenged to do so by Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto.
He said: ‘He [Pinto] set me the challenge of reaching 1,000 goals. It will be quite difficult, but it is to see how I am mentally, my motivation. If, physically, my legs treat me as well as I treat them.
The Portuguese superstar has 859 career goals and is the world’s top scorer this calendar year
‘Let’s see,’ he added added. ‘Until I reach 1000 I have to reach 900 first. I believe I will reach it. Now I always think about short-term goals.
‘The target for 900 goals? I’m confident, but for 1,000 goals it’s a lot of stone to break.’
The Al-Nassr forward faces a tough ask to reach 1,000 career goals, but if all goes to plan Mail Sport’s calculations estimate Ronaldo could reach the landmark at some point in 2026
With the 38-year-old set to play around 40 games for Al-Nassr in all competitions this year, plus approximately 10 in total for Portugal, again Ronaldo would be looking at some time in 2027 to break the 1,000 barrier.
If a more short-term outlook is taken, with Euro 2024 on the horizon, Ronaldo could play seven games alone in that tournament on top of the likely 10 international games elsewhere during that year.
Ronaldo currently has 10 goals in eight Saudi Pro League games this season, having missed one due to injury, meaning across a 34-game campaign, he would be expected to hit the back of the net 41 times.
