Cristiano Ronaldo - 965/1000

If we discount the obviously flawed 2022 (only 16 goals in that calender year) in which he wasn't a starter and wasn't himself with that personal tragedy and look at the scoring trend.

In the last 3 calendar years he was a starter in Europe.
2019: 39 goals (Juve + Portugal)
2020: 44 goals (Juve + Portugal)
2021: 47 goals (half with Juve, half at United + Portugal)

As his overall level as a player was decreasing, his goals output kept increasing... But that made him less attractive on the European market. Juventus wanted rid of him despite the goals and we also ended up considering him an overall liability...

Since he moved to Saudi :
He scored:
54 goals in 2023,
43 goals in 2024.
38 goals in 2025. (Playing less games, skipping the Asian equivalent of EL completely; focusing on domestic league and on Portugal, with which he won the NL and was top scorer of the League A.)

The trend is clearly downward this time. If we extend it mathematically, we could expect 30 goals in 2026 and 20 goals in 2027... So normally sometime in 2027 he should get there...

This is not a pun, let's get this one straight first, but since I'm not watching the Saudi League regularly ,it's true that he scored 17 on 2024 and 15 in this 2025? sounds like his team creates a lot, or those numbers are totally fake.
 
This is not a pun, let's get this one straight first, but since I'm not watching the Saudi League regularly ,it's true that he scored 17 on 2024 and 15 in this 2025? sounds like his team creates a lot, or those numbers are totally fake.

These age of internet. Can you fake those stats? For a high profile player such as CR7?

I mean. Come on now
 
These age of internet. Can you fake those stats? For a high profile player such as CR7?

I mean. Come on now

Jokes aside, of course you can and in fact it's loaded with Twitter, Instagram posts with not that accurate stats, I've just came across a Facebook post talking about those numbers and sounded too much, but maybe it's the normal ouput for any top team on any league
 
@Mike Smalling
afdzev.jpg
Honestly, I don’t think this is healthy. His muscles are so defined that it looks like he’s dehydrating himself. But after all I’m a fat bastard so what do I know.
 
Honestly, I don’t think this is healthy. His muscles are so defined that it looks like he’s dehydrating himself. But after all I’m a fat bastard so what do I know.
Him being what he is, he’s probably purposely dehydrated himself to take the picture. Looks about 5% bf there, but also completely drained, like he’s dehydrated.

Doesn’t look like an epitome of health, but certainly looks “stage ready”.
 
Love him or hate him. Scoring 1000 goals is a feat of strength. Even 950 is a feat of strength

At what level though?

His Saudi pro league goals shouldn't really count.

Haaland could be close to 1000 goals if he spent his entire career in Austria.

To me a record becomes a bit diminished if you achieve it miles off the top level.

Its like when someone becomes 'the world champion' in BDO when all the really good players are in another tournament.

He could have kept playing at a far far higher level, but he chose to take the money and play whatever Fifa is called now on beginner mode.
 
At what level though?

His Saudi pro league goals shouldn't really count.

Haaland could be close to 1000 goals if he spent his entire career in Austria.

To me a record becomes a bit diminished if you achieve it miles off the top level.

Its like when someone becomes 'the world champion' in BDO when all the really good players are in another tournament.

He could have kept playing at a far far higher level, but he chose to take the money and play whatever Fifa is called now on beginner mode.
What’s BDO?
 
At what level though?

His Saudi pro league goals shouldn't really count.

Haaland could be close to 1000 goals if he spent his entire career in Austria.

To me a record becomes a bit diminished if you achieve it miles off the top level.

Its like when someone becomes 'the world champion' in BDO when all the really good players are in another tournament.

He could have kept playing at a far far higher level, but he chose to take the money and play whatever Fifa is called now on beginner mode.

That's petty. Sure it's Saudi. But he's doing it at 37 after scoring 850ish in the highest level.

That alone is already a feat of strength

And it's not like Europe rejects are going there and scoring boatloads
 
That's petty. Sure it's Saudi. But he's doing it at 37 after scoring 850ish in the highest level.

That alone is already a feat of strength

And it's not like Europe rejects are going there and scoring boatloads
To be fair the leagues top scorer is Joao Felix who’s averaging more than a goal a game in the league, and was approx 1 in 5 from his move to Atletico Madrid until he left for Saudi
 
At what level though?

His Saudi pro league goals shouldn't really count.

Haaland could be close to 1000 goals if he spent his entire career in Austria.

To me a record becomes a bit diminished if you achieve it miles off the top level.

Its like when someone becomes 'the world champion' in BDO when all the really good players are in another tournament.

He could have kept playing at a far far higher level, but he chose to take the money and play whatever Fifa is called now on beginner mode.

I tend to agree with this. It speaks to his uncontrollable ego that he was fixated on 1000 so he had to go find a level where he could still bang them in.

I'd be more impressed if he'd gone back to Sporting to finish his career and ending on 900 than I will be when he hits 1000 having played in a nothing league for the final 4 or 5 years of his career.
 
I tend to agree with this. It speaks to his uncontrollable ego that he was fixated on 1000 so he had to go find a level where he could still bang them in.

I'd be more impressed if he'd gone back to Sporting to finish his career and ending on 900 than I will be when he hits 1000 having played in a nothing league for the final 4 or 5 years of his career.
Or he could have retired after United when it was clear he was done at the very highest level

It doesn't really matter what he does in the twilight, his legacy was already set. Many great players don't play into their late 30s and it doesn't affect their legacy (R9, Dinho, Cantona, Zidane etc)

Nobody will care about his Saudi stint when it's all said and done. He'll be remembered as one of the greats
 
I still don't feel anything that's happened in Saudi bears weight regardless.

I'm actually surprised at the low level of the other teams, I thought Saudi were spending a lot on players? Or since the World Cup got won did they down tools? Can anyone shed some light why the leagues so piss poor after the first signing wave?

Ronaldo has a good attack around him in Felix, Mane and Coman.

It seems the next best are Al Hilal with Darwin Nuñez and Theo Hernandez (not even a forward)

Pretty wild is it just an empty league now with Al Nassr trying to bring players in?
 
Or he could have retired after United when it was clear he was done at the very highest level

It doesn't really matter what he does in the twilight, his legacy was already set. Many great players don't play into their late 30s and it doesn't affect their legacy (R9, Dinho, Cantona, Zidane etc)

Nobody will care about his Saudi stint when it's all said and done. He'll be remembered as one of the greats
100% true. However this is not enough for him. He wants to be remembered as the greatest - to the point that he has become the worst of all things, a self-proclaimer (only Muhammad Ali can get away with this, maybe because of his megawatt charisma and sense of humour).

The issue is that CR simply won't be remembered as the greatest by the majority of people, because he's not a good enough all round footballer.
 
He’ll be 75 years old with a zimmerframe standing in the box waiting for shots to deflect in off him.