Nfter his historic 700 goal record, the superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who was hardly in demand at Manchester United, was celebrated. “700 club goals for the incredible Ronaldo. That’s 35 goals per season in 20 years. Absurd,” tweeted England football legend Gary Lineker. The English record champions and the newspaper “Daily Mail” spoke of an “overwhelming and unbelievable milestone”.
Only the 37-year-old took the next extraordinary record of his career calmly. “Another step in the right direction,” wrote the Portuguese on Instagram: “This is for you, United fans.”
Coach congratulates Ronaldo
It should still be a special goal for Ronaldo, especially since he no longer plays a role under new coach Erik ten Hag. The exceptional striker made his only starting XI appearance in the 4-0 defeat by Brentford on 13 August, since then he had only played 80 minutes in the league as a substitute until Sunday’s game against Everton. “It’s really impressive when you score 700 goals. This is an enormous achievement. I congratulate him,” said ten Hag. “It’s his first goal in the Premier League this season. He had to wait. I’m sure there will be more goals to come.”
Ronaldo also came on as a substitute against Everton (29th minute), 15 minutes later he scored the 2-1 winner after a through ball from Casemiro – the 700th goal at club level by the five-time world footballer, who is also the top scorer in the world in the national shirt ( 117) and is also at the top of the Champions League with 140 goals. It was Ronaldo’s 144th goal for Manchester United, while he also scored 450 for Real Madrid, 101 for Juventus and five for Sporting Lisbon.
“Ronaldo is an incredible player – and he’s been an incredible player since I saw him as a youngster. We can keep building and once he starts scoring goals he doesn’t stop,” said team-mate Marcus Rashford. Ronaldo’s compatriot Bruno Fernandes said: “It’s difficult to count Cristiano’s goals because every week it seems like a new record! Of course we are very happy. He worked hard to achieve that goal.”
