Although he has been at his lowest ebb since his transfer to Manchester United in 2021, the team’s Forward Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday scored a historic 700th club goal against Everton at Goodison park. 

The 37-year-old Manchester United Forward became the first footballer to reach the 700 club goal milestone. The Portugal international netted 700 goals while playing for four clubs — Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus — in 20 years 2 days since he scored his first goal.

After his 700th goal, Man United’s coach Erik ten Hag said, “It’s a huge performance when you score 700 goals. I am really for him and I congratulate him on that performance.”

Astonishing. pic.twitter.com/0UWTNQZm6U

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 9, 2022

Starting his career with a Portugal club, Sporting Lisbon, then 17-year-old Cristiano scored five goals in 31 appearances. In Cristiano’s first spell with Manchester United from 2003-09, when he was nurtured by the legendary football coach Sir Alex Ferguson, netted the ball 118 times. Cristiano’s top-notch performances started in his first spell with Manchester United, but it peaked at Bernebau with Real Madrid as he netted an emphatic 451 times in 438 competitive appearances in nine years with the club.

In 2019, when he accepted the transfer to Juventus, it was initially a task for the right-footed Cristiano but he found his mojo as he netted 101 times in two seasons. Later after accepting to transfer to his boyhood club Manchester United in 2021, he scored 26 goals. 

With an overall average in his 20 years of club career, Ronaldo scored 35 goals a year. However, it changed on a yearly basis. In 2006, he averaged over 40 goals a year. During his stint at Real Madrid, he averaged netting 50 times a year in nine years, helping Los Blancos two La Liga titles and four Champion League trophies.     

Towering at 6 feet 1 inch, Cristiano is known for his headed goals as he found the back of the net 16.1 per cent which is 113 times followed by Dutch footballer Luuk de Jong with 78 headed goals.

Meanwhile, only two footballers who have 700 goals (for both country and clubs) apiece to their names are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it took Ronaldo 974 matches to achieve this feat while the left-footed Argentine international Messi scored 700 goals in 862 games.