Cristiano Ronaldo
If there is one debate you can count on finding everywhere around the globe - it's Ronaldo vs. Messi. Their professional rivalry has elevated their teams and made football a better and more interesting game. No two players could be more different. One is tall the other is short, one plays for Barcelona and their tiki-taka, and the other has a team built around him to maximize his productivity. One is an artist with the ball and you never know what to expect of him (except the exceptional) while the other is an amazing athlete and a focused personality. We are a lucky bunch to have the privilege to enjoy these two artists throughout their entire career.
But only one has done the unthinkable - win the EUFA Champions League Cup back to back. In honor of his extraordinary achievement, we give you Cristiano Ronaldo's 2016-7 season in color.
The Basic Stats!
First and foremost, Cristiano Ronaldo has surpassed any previous scorer for Real Madrid. In his eight years with the Los Blancos he has scored 407 goals and won 11 titles for the team. The former Real Madrid lead scorer was Raul who played sixteen seasons for the club and scored "only" 323 goals in 741 mathces, but won 16 titles.
Alfredo di Stefano is ranked third as Real Madrid's all time scorer. Di Stefano played for eleven years from 1953 to 1964 and scored 308 goals - 100 goals less the Ronaldo in the same period of time in 396 games. On the other hand Di Stefano won17 titles for the club.
Alfredo Di Stefano, 1953-1964, 308 goals, 17 titles
Raul, 1994-2010, 323 goals, 16 titles
Personal Stats 2016/17
Many Ronaldo critics claim that Messi is a better player. Looking at the this year's stats, Ronaldo fans will find it hard to agree. In 46 matches that he played this year, Ronaldo scored 42 goals and assisted another 9 more. These include 25 goals scored in the La-Liga (the Spanish first league) out of 106 goals that Real Madrid scored throughout the entire season - second only to... you guessed it, Leo Messi.
In the champions league Ronaldo scored 12 goals and is ranked (again) the tournament's top scorer. While Messi is a close second scored a goal less. Yeah, and Ronaldo won the cup.
UEFA Champion's league champion
If you thought this has been impressive, we just started. Ronaldo is the Champion's League all-time top scorer with 105 goals and the first player ever to score more than 100 goals in the tournament (and one more in qualification matches). Ronaldo has appeared in 140 and has a 0.75 goal per match ratio. He is also the top scoring player in six seasons.
Ronaldo is also the only player to win the Champion's league cup, League Title, League Supercup, League Cup, League MVP, Golden Boot and Ballon d'Or in two clubs – Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Personal Achievements
We all know that football / soccer is a team effort. One player can't take everything on his back and lead the entire team to victory. Well, that's true, but Ronaldo has definitely taken most of the workload upon himself, and his contribution is staggering!
He has been the leading goal scorer for his team in the UEFA Champions league 5 years in a row, is the only player to score more than 50 goals in six seasons - five of the consecutive, and 60 goals in four consecutive seasons and score over 10 goals in six different EUFA Champion's league tournaments.
Personal Awards
So naturally, Ronaldo won the 2017 La-Liga championship and the EUFA Champions League cup. A rare achievement for a team in general and the first time a team has won the Champion's League cup back to back. On a personal level, Ronaldo is the first player to have been awarded the European Golden Shoe four times in 2015 (Messi matched the achievement in 2017).
The Golden Ball prize (Ballon d'Or) has been more elusive for Ronaldo having won it only 4 times (in comparison to Messi's 5), but they both have always been each other's runner up.
Records Records Records
Ronaldo transferred to Manchester United in 2003 and broke a premier league record before he even set a foot in Old Trafford. His transfer from Sporting Lisbon cost $16,690,000, and was the most expensive transfer for a teenage player in Premier League and English football history.
