Over the last few weeks, all of the news surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo has been about his rumored transfer away from Real Madrid back to Manchester United.
United fans are set to take matters into their own hands by flying a banner over the Bernabeu tomorrow, pleading for the Portuguese forward return to Old Trafford. Will it work? Who knows. United officials remain tight-lipped on the proposed transfer, while leaks have even suggested that they won’t bring him back to England because of the transfers they’ve already made this summer. Meanwhile, Ronaldo continues to toe the company line, and insists that he is happy. But there’s no smoke without fire, especially when it comes to soccer transfer rumors.
However, what seems to have been forgotten in all of this is just how good Cristiano Ronaldo is at playing soccer. Earlier this week, and in the space of just three days, he fired in two hat-tricks against Deportivo and Elche, and in the latter game he even scored four times.
This now means that Ronaldo has scored 25 hat-tricks in just over five years at Madrid, and he now stands just behind Alfredo Di Stefano’s record haul of 28 for the club. But there are so many other statistics from the forward that prove this fact isn’t an anomaly, and The Guardian has collected them to show just how impressive a soccer specimen he is.
In just four league games this season he has scored nine goals, while last season he scored 17 goals in the 2013-2014 Champions League campaign to smash the record haul for one season in the competition, which was previously Lionel Messi and Jose Altafini’s 14. He has also dispatched 53 Champions League goals in his career, as well as 47 penalties.
But when it comes to Ronaldo’s statistics, it’s impossible to look beyond his goal tally with Real Madrid since he joined them in 2009. In 254 games for the club, he has scored 264 goals. He is now closing in on the record holders for the club, Di Stefano’s 307 and Raul’s 323, at a remarkable speed, and the only reason the 29-year-old won’t catch them is if he moves. Meanwhile, in La Liga, he has also scored 186 goals in just 169 matches, which means that he is already 10th on the all-time scoring chart.
With these facts in mind, I have just two questions: Why are Real Madrid considering selling Ronaldo? And why are Manchester United contemplating not making the purchase?
[Image via Wall Paper Swala]