With a brace against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Portuguese star is the top scorer so far in 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo is having one of his best seasons since turning thirty. The Portuguese has seen his change of scenery (move to Saudi Arabia) for the better, and with a Portuguese team and a new coach, it’s a perfect fit for him.
A few days ago, Portugal qualified for the 2024 European Cup. This is Cristiano’s sixth European Cup. But his 2023 isn’t solely dependent on qualifying for the UEFA Nations League Championship.
2022 could be the most difficult year for the Portuguese. That year, he lost the son he was pregnant with with his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, and their youngest daughter was hospitalized due to illness. He was on the bench for several United games and he clashed with the Manchester United manager. English club Erik ten Hag even forced the Portuguese to leave and saw how his ownership of the national team was compromised during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Now, in 2023, Cristiano seems to be experiencing a second youth. He is currently the top goalscoring footballer on the natural calendar, with 40 goals in 43 games, and he has also assisted his teammates 9 times. This means the 38-year-old striker averages one goal every 77 minutes with Al Nasser and the Portuguese national team.
Below are Erling Haaland (39 goals) and Barnabas Varga (38 goals). In addition, Cristiano is the player with the most goals in 2023 (49), he is the football player with the most goals in the Saudi League (10) and the top scorer in the 2024 European Cup qualifiers (nine).
Another devastating fact about the Portuguese is that he has scored over 300 goals since turning 30. Having just turned 30, he scored a total of 58 goals in one year. If we only consider the national team, no one has scored more goals than Cristiano over the age of 30 (75). Miroslav Klose (71 goals), Harry Kane (59 goals), David Villa (59 goals) and Olivier Giroud (54 goals) are the only players who have come close.
It’s not even October yet and Cristiano still has a November selection window to increase his caps for Portugal, plus he has until the end of the year to join Al Nasr.