Cristiano Ronaldo Scores 300 for Real Madrid: A Look At His Biggest Goals For Club
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his assault on the record books by scoring his 300th goal this week for Real Madrid.
The superstar headed home the milestone home in the second half of Madrid 2-0 win Wednesday over Rayo Vallecano, playing the hero in a huge game.
The goal came in just Ronaldo's 288th game, thus establishing him as the quickest to the feat in Spanish League history. That puts him at a rate of 1.04 goals per game for his club. For some perspective, Lionel Messi has scored 398 goals for Barcelona in 468 games (0.85 goals per game).
Of those goals, 214 have come in La Liga, 60 have come in the Champions League, 21 have been in the Copa del Rey, three in the Super Copa and two in the UEFA Super Cup.
For Ronaldo, the feat also puts him closer to being Real Madrid's all-time leading man. Raul currently leads the charge with 323 goals while Alfredo Di Stefano has 307. That said, Raul needed 741 games to reach the goal while DiStefano played 396 games to score his total.
While Ronaldo is unlikely to score another 24 goals between the final nine Spanish League tilts and remaining Champions League games (which would max out at five more if Madrid makes the final), there can be no doubt that he will pass DiStefano at some point in 2014-15 and probably blow away Raul's record in 2015-16.
More importantly, Ronaldo re-established a four-goal lead for the Pichichi award in Spain after his rival Lionel Messi scored a goal in his game for Barcelona.
Three-hundred is a big number, but there are surely some milestones for the superstar along the way.
Latin Post takes a look at Ronaldo's key goals for his club over the years:
First goal - August 29, 2009
In his first competitive match for Madrid, Ronaldo scored a penalty goal as Los Blancos beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-2.
Copa del Rey Final vs. Barcelona, 2011
The best players show their qualities in the big games and Ronaldo undoubtedly did just that in the Copa del Rey in 2011. He had yet to win a title with Madrid despite being brought in in 2009. He was losing ground to Messi.
He needed a defining moment to prove that he could score big goals in big games.
And his terrific header in this final, against Barcelona and Messi no less, is certainly a legendary moment for Ronaldo.
Goal 100 vs. Lyon, 2011
It came in 2011 and just like his first goal, it was a penalty. Ronaldo is quite good from the spot kick and has scored 55 of his 300 Madrid goals from the penalty area.
Winner Against Barcelona on April 21, 2012
Ronaldo had yet to win a Spanish League title for his new club.
Messi was winning Ballon d'Or awards left and right. So what does Ronaldo do on April 21, 2012? Score one of the biggest goals of his entire career.
Barcelona was just four points behind Madrid and playing at home. A win would put Madrid seven points clear in first place with only four games left to play. Los Blancos held a 1-0 lead in the game, blew it, but managed to win after Ronaldo latched onto a beautiful pass from Mesut Ozil and finished behind Victor Valdes. It was a crowning moment if there ever was one for the Portuguese star.
Champions League Record-Breaker, 2014
Ronaldo had a poor game in the UCL final. But no one can fault him for celebrating the way he did after scoring a penalty goal in arguably one of the most important moments of his career.
But the goal that really cemented his legacy that season was number 15, a tremendous finish off a counter attack that made him the record holder for most goals scored in a Champions League season. He would score twice more to establish a record of 17 goals, but 15 is brilliance.
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