Cristiano Ronaldo reached the landmark figure with a goal just before half-time against Everton on Sunday, with the superstar’s strike proving to be the winner for Manchester United
The superstar became the first player in football history to reach the remarkable landmark when he fired United in the lead from a Casemiro assist in what was United’s second goal of the day at Goodison Park, completing a turnaround for the visitors.
And United boss Erick Ten Hag hailed the superstar following the win over the Toffees.
The Dutchman insisted that he is confident the Portugal captain will now hit the goal trail for the Red Devils.
“That is really impressive. To score 700 goals is a huge performance. I’m really happy for him. I congratulate him on that performance and I’m also happy as it’s his first goal this season in the Premier League,” he said.
Bruno Fernandes who was United’s skipper for the trip to Everton claimed it was “tough” to count all of Ronaldo’s records as he continues to enhance his legacy.
“It’s tough still counting goals to Cristiano, every week feels like a new record. We are very happy, he’s been working hard to find his goal, we saw it in the last game was tough for him because he tried hard, the goalkeeper, the post,” he told BT Sport.
Everton boss Frank Lampard praised the 37-year-old striker as ‘one of the greatest ever’
“It is outstanding,’ said Lampard. ‘He is one of the greatest players that has graced the game, ever, in an era when we have had himself and Lionel Messi. The comparison between them doesn’t matter; they are both incredible players in football history.
“The numbers they have racked up, abnormal numbers that have become normal. When he was on 699, I wanted him to score in the Europa League (against Omonia Nicosia) the other night but it wasn’t to be,” He said.
The Portugal star has scored the bulk of his tally for Madrid, where he became the club’s all-time top scorer with 450 goals from 2009-2018 after leaving Old Trafford for the first time.
He has scored 144 goals for United across two spells there, 101 goals for Juventus and five for Sporting, while he boasts 50 hat tricks
Meanwhile, an impressive 129 of Ronaldo’s club goals have come from the penalty spot.
He enjoyed his most fruitful years in LaLiga, where he racked up a remarkable 311 goals in 292 appearances.
He is also the top scorer in Champions League history with 140 goals in 183 appearances, 13 ahead of Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo has only failed to score in one competition at the club level — the Community Shield.
He is unlikely to experience another campaign as prolific as his 2014-15 season for Madrid, when he scored 61 goals in 54 games at a rate of more than 1.12 goals per match as his game time seem lessened by Ten hag at United.
The world’s highest men’s international scorer with 117 goals in 189 games for Portugal who is also expected to captain Portugal at the forthcoming Qatar World Cup recently said he wants to compete at the next Euros before he can consider hanging his boots.
