Ronaldo is the first player in history to reach 900 goals in official club competitions and FIFA points matches for the national team. Of these, 220 were decisive goals that brought victory to the home team in 1,236 matches, a rate of 17.8%. Compared to the superstar of the same era, Lionel Messi, this rate is 16.5%, (176 decisive goals in 1,069 matches).

A winning goal is scored when the last goal of the match is scored when the score is level. Ronaldo has also scored 355 goals to put his team ahead, in 334 of his 1,236 games, or 27%. Messi has scored 292 such goals, in 279 of his 1,069 games, or 26.1%.

Another statistic that shows Ronaldo’s goals have a significant impact on the match is the number of points won by the home team.

Assuming every match counts, excluding penalty shootouts, Ronaldo would have earned 382 points out of the 2,108 his team has won, a ratio of 18.1%. This is again better than Messi, with 17.3% (he won 312 points from the team’s 1,803 points).

The above metric is calculated based on the team’s results in the event that Ronaldo or Messi does not score. For example, if Al Nassr wins 3-1 and Ronaldo scores a goal, he gets no points. If Al Nassr wins 2-1 and Ronaldo scores a goal, he gets two points. And if Al Nassr wins 2-1 and Ronaldo scores a double, he gets three points.

Other factors that Ronaldo can confidently outperform Messi include the ability to score goals with his head or weaker foot. The 1.87m striker has scored 151 headed goals in his career, a rate of 16.8%, while the 1.70m superstar has only scored 27 goals with his head, a rate of 3.2%.

Ronaldo has also scored 173 goals with his left foot, his weaker foot, a rate of 19.2%, while Messi has scored 105 with his right foot, accounting for 12.5% of his total. In addition, Ronaldo scored an elbow goal in Real Madrid’s match against Athletic Bilbao in 2014.

Ronaldo’s peak was also nine years playing for Real, where he scored 450 goals in just 438 matches . That is, half of his goals were scored for the Spanish Royal Club. His goals for Man Utd, Juventus and the Portuguese national team also reached three digits.

Ronaldo’s goals by age also show that he was at the peak of his career between the ages of 25 and 32, always scoring over 50 goals. Notably, at the age of 38, the Portuguese superstar scored 53 goals, mainly thanks to his move to Al Nassr to play in the Saudi Pro League – where the level of opponents cannot be compared to the top five European leagues.

However, the teams Ronaldo has scored the most goals against are still in Spain, because he has spent most of his career playing in Europe. Sevilla are his favorite opponents, with 27 goals in 18 matches, followed by Atletico Madrid (25 goals), Getafe (23 goals) and Barca (20 goals in 34 matches).

The club outside Spain that Ronaldo has scored the most goals against is Tottenham with 14 goals in 20 games. His favorite team is Luxembourg with 11 goals in 11 games.

Ronaldo’s worst opponents are probably Benfica, with him failing to score in five meetings with them, followed by Lille with four matches. At international level, the Portuguese captain has also failed to score in three matches against England.

Ronaldo holds the all-time scoring records in the Champions League, Euros, World Cup qualifiers and Club World Cup. He also has scored the most penalties in history, with 164, although his 84.5% success rate is not the highest.

At 39, Ronaldo knows he only has a few years left to play at the top level. On his personal YouTube channel, the Al Nassr captain said his ultimate goal is to reach 1,000 goals. Perhaps only then will he decide to hang up his boots. “That would be the greatest milestone I can achieve in football,” Ronaldo said.