On Thursday against Arsenal, Cristiano Ronaldo once again became a match-winner in the Premier League and reached the next big milestone in the process. Or?
It was a typical Cristiano Ronaldo night. The 36-year-old scored twice to give Manchester United the lead in their clash with Arsenal, and his 3:2 was finally the celebrated winner.
More historic, however, was the exceptional player’s first goal – number 800 in his professional career. As far as can be determined, no one before Cristiano Ronaldo has ever achieved that. But when exactly did Manchester’s returnee really reach this milestone? Marca had already reported it when CR7 fired the Red Devils to victory at Villarreal FC.
The “goal thief” begrudges CR7
One goal more or less hardly seems to matter in the 2016 European champions’ haul. And yet it does time and again. Because the statisticians don’t quite agree on one goal: In 2010, both still playing for Real Madrid, Pepe (“The goal belongs to Cristiano”) deflected a free-kick goal from his compatriot against Real Sociedad – and certainly not in a completely inconclusive way.
While this goal was widely credited to the defender, the daily “Marca “, which also awards the Spanish top scorer, however, opted for CR7. As, incidentally, does Real Madrid itself, which has statistically deposited its record goalscorer with 451 instead of 450 goals in 438 games.
Whether Cristiano Ronaldo stands at 801 or 802 goals in official professional matches – the next milestone is sure to come.
