On This Day: Throwback to when Cristiano Ronaldo crossed 100 Champions League goals in UEFA Champions League after scoring a hat-trick against FC Bayern Munich five years ago
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Cristiano Ronaldo is the current top scorer of the Champions League with 135 goals and is a true master of the tournament, winning five of those four with Real Madrid and one with Manchester United.
Interestingly, on this day back in 2017, he made one of the best records of his entire career by becoming the first player to score 100 goals in the Champions League. The Portuguese legend achieved the feat after scoring a hat-trick and being the difference in the second leg of the quarterfinals against FC Bayern Munich.
Real Madrid headed into the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals of the 2016-17 season against Bayern Munich with a crucial 2-1 lead. However, it was blown away in the second half of the second leg when Robert Lewandowski scored from the penalty spot.
The then 32-year-old’s first of the night came just after half-time when he took a brilliant touch to turn home a low cross from Dani Carvajal, pulling Madrid level with the Bundesliga leaders following Arturo Vidal’s opener. Bayern still needed a goal, and their task got more difficult when Cristiano Ronaldo leaped the highest to head in Real’s equalizer.
Finally, a fast counter punch in Sergio Ramos’ own goal tied the two-legged match 3-3 after regulation time. Unfortunately, Bayern went down to 10-men after Arturo Vidal was shown a red card in the 84th minute.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner made the most of the advantage as he scored two goals in extra time to secure Real’s passage to the semi-finals. In doing so, he also became the first footballer in the world to go past 100 Champions League goals in the tournament’s history.
Cristiano Ronaldo for Manchester United in the 2021-22 season
On September 11, 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo made his second debut at Old Trafford, scoring the opening two goals in a 4–1 league victory against Newcastle United. On September, 29, he scored a last-minute winner in United’s 2–1 victory at home to Villarreal in the Champions League, overtaking Iker Casillas as the player with the most appearances in the competition.
On December 2, 2021, Ronaldo scored twice in a 3–2 home league win against Arsenal, taking him past 800 top-level career goals.
On 12 March 2022, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 3–2 victory against Tottenham, bringing his total goal count to 807 in the process. He is believed to be the record holder for goals scored in professional football, although the Football Association of the Czech Republic argues that Josef Bican scored 821 goals.
All these heroic performances have earned Cristiano Ronaldo 21 goals for the Red Devils this season, leading the charts as their top goalscorer, even at the age of 37.
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Thomas Savio Joseph
(51 Articles Published)