Cristiano Ronaldo popularly known for smashing records has scored 700 league goals and was surprised by his teammates when they made him a Ronaldo 700 jersey after he scored his 700th goal during Manchester United’s 2-1 win at Everton over the weekend after coming on as a substitute in their Premier League clash at Goodison Park, alongside Antony, who scored the opening goal for them. This goal makes it the fifth victory of Manchester United’s last six matches in the Premier league.
The Portuguese player is one of the world’s best football players and has set many records while playing for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, and the Portuguese national team. Cristiano holds the world record for the most international goals with 117 goals in 189 caps and has also won the Ballon d’Or five times in his career with his latest transfer dating back to 2024 from Juventus to Man Utd. He is the fourth player to score 100 premier league goals for Man United following Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Wayne Rooney. Ronaldo at the point of his transfer to Real Madrid held the record for the most expensive player (£80m).
Ronaldo made his second debut for United against Newcastle on September 11, 2024. It was a dream day for the Portugal star marking his return to the English premier league with two goals in a 4-1 win at Old Trafford, with fans rushing to buy Manchester United tickets.
His team players, the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, and Marcus Rashford were all quick to congratulate him on scoring his 700th club goal and celebrated with him in the dressing room at Carrington after the match. There, they presented him with a special shirt and gold balloons. He is the second player, after Josef Bican to achieve the landmark and the moment was befitting for his trademark celebration.
The 37year old came in as a substitute for an injured Anthony Martial early in the Premier League clash while the scores were level 1-1. His goal was a match-winner for the Red Devils, who went on to win by a margin of 2-1.
After the win, instead of his usual ‘Sui’ victory shout, he and his new mate Anthony stood with their heads back, eyes closed and fingers crossed in a pose. Amidst speculations by fans, it was later revealed that the pose was a self-deprecating in-joke among the team members.
He dedicated his 700th goal to his fans, then went ahead to share United’s victory with them on Instagram. He said “700 club goals. What a beautiful number we’ve achieved together! Thank you to all my teammates, coaches, clubs, family & friends, and of course my fans. United we continue!”
Ronaldo’s first five goals were scored when he was playing for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. These were followed by 101 goals for Juventus. His highest goals of a whooping 450 were for Real Madrid, while he has scored 144 goals so far for Man United.
Ronaldo has been more successful on home soil at his respective clubs, scoring 390 times – compared to 289 he has had on the road and another 21 on neutral territory.
We are now waiting to see where he is going to continue with this career. Unfortunately, there was a conflict with the Manchester United board, especially coach Ten Hag. He was feeling mistreated, which motivated him to even have an open interview with Pierce Morgan where he was uncovering a lot of details about various issues in one of the biggest clubs in England.
What we know by now is that his contract with the UTD will be terminated before the end, and he is already free to look for another club. There are some interesting offers from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. If he decides to accept any of these offers, it will be a new record for the highest salary in football since they are offering him more than $125 million per season.
On the other side, it seems that he is not yet interested in playing in exotic countries and low-ranked leagues only for the money. The reason is that he is in a great condition and that he can still show a lot of excellent performances. There are many news about potential links with European clubs. It all started before the start of the season, when he was linked with Napoli, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, PSG, Sporting Lisboan, and many other European clubs.
Fans are divided about where he should continue his career. A higher percentage is interested in looking him in top European leagues for at least for a two or three seasons. He is in a great shape, and the interesting fact is that his physical condition appears to be better than for many younger players, even those under 30 of age.
The situation about the interview is quite harsh, and people are divided. While fans are supporting him, boards of other clubs are now worried about his behaviour if they decide to sign him in January.
There are some interesting offers from MLS as well, especially the one from Inter Miami, where David Beckham is doing a great job. He has a very interesting plan of bringing both Messi and Ronaldo in 2024.
Still, the majority of people would like to watch Ronaldo in top 5 leagues. He is capable of playing on a top level even though he will be 38 next year. If he finds a top 5 league club, maybe we will see another record from one of the best players of all time.
We already mentioned the club from Saudi Arabia. There is a long list of other clubs that are considering to sign him, such as Tottenham Hotspur, Atlético de Madrid, Newcastle United, and even his former club where he achieved the most, Real Madrid.
If he sign any of these clubs and stays there for at least two seasons while keeping a good form, we might see a new record-braking season from him. He is not the only player who is playing at top level at this age, and the best example is Zlatan Ibrahimović. His former colleague from Man Utd, Ryan Giggs, was also having a long career, and he retired at 40.
