Wednesday 23 September 2015 16:44, UK
Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick in Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk took him to 499 goals for club and country.
Ronaldo's remarkable goal haul has come in 749 appearances for Real Madrid, Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon and Portugal, and, with a scarcely believable total of eight goals in his last two appearances, he will be confident of bringing up the 500 against Athletic Bilbao, live on Sky Sports 2 on Wednesday evening.
The records continue to tumble for the FIFA World Player of the Year, and here, with the help of our friends at Opta, we crunch the numbers behind his astonishing scoring feats…
Ronaldo's recent scoring heroics have put him on 321 from 305 appearances for Madrid. He is now just two short of all-time leading scorer Raul - despite having played over 400 fewer games.
Last week's five-goal haul against Espanyol and his treble against Shakhtar took him to 37 hat-tricks for club and country, and he is also three goals clear of Lionel Messi in the Champions League, with 80 goals making him the competition's all-time leading scorer.
While the bulk of Ronaldo's 499 goals have come in a Real Madrid shirt, he also reached triple figures for Manchester United. In six seasons at Old Trafford Ronaldo smashed 118 goals, and he previously netted five times for Sporting Lisbon as a teenager. At international level, Ronaldo has 55 goals in 122 appearances for Portugal.
Ronaldo's lethal right foot has accounted for 325 of his total, with 89 coming on his left and 83 with his head. The 30-year-old can score all kinds of goals from all kinds of angles. Eighty-three of his total have come from outside the box, and he has also scored 81 penalties and 45 direct free kicks.
Home advantage makes little difference to Ronaldo, whose 211 away goals account for 42 per cent of his total. He has scored 272 at home, with the final 16 coming in neutral locations.
The stats also show he is most dangerous between the 76th and 90th minute, a period in which he has scored 115 goals. His second-most prolific period is the 16th-30th minute, during which he has scored 87 times.
So who are Ronaldo's favoured opposition? Sevilla must be sick of the sight of him. The Portuguese powerhouse has scored 21 times against the Andalucian side, while he also enjoys playing against Getafe, against whom he has scored 18 goals.
Ronaldo also has a habit of scoring in El Clasico, with 15 goals against Barcelona putting them joint-third with Atletico Madrid in his list of favoured opposition. As for English teams, Ronaldo has been most prolific against Aston Villa (nine goals) and Tottenham (eight).
And what about top assist makers? Well, over the course of his career, no player has provided more goals for Ronaldo than Karim Benzema with 31. Arsenal's Mesut Ozil ranks second having made 27 assists to Ronaldo during their four-year spell at the Bernabeu together.
Manchester United flop Angel Di Maria assisted Ronaldo 22 times, while his current team-mate Gareth Bale is on 20. At Manchester United, Ryan Giggs was his top assister with 16, while Wayne Rooney was next on 10. His former United and current international team-mate Nani is just behind Rooney on nine assists.
Ronaldo's most prolific season was the 2011-12 campaign, when he scored 69 goals for club and country, and he has surpassed the 60-mark in each of his last two seasons.
Ronaldo's appetite for goals is greater than ever, and Athletic Bilbao will have their work cut out to stop him from hitting the 500th this week...
