Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time leading scorer in Champions League history, added another two goals to his tally to lead Real Madrid to UEFA Champions League glory, the Spanish side securing back-to-back titles with a commanding 4-1 victory over Juventus.
Ronaldo becomes the 1st player to score in 3 Champions League finals to give Real Madrid the lead. #UCLfinal https://t.co/JLygGZfq1I
It doesn’t count on the scoresheet, but there’s something entirely satisfying about seeing an absolute crack smash off the woodwork. As humans, we like loud noises, and nothing makes us ooh and aah more than football’s own version of fireworks — the ball crashing into the crossbar from distance and flying into the heavens.
Apart from that spectacle, great goals can be denied for a myriad of other reasons: sometimes it’s the referee, sometimes it’s a curmudgeonly defender or goalkeeper and sometimes it’s that idiot Nani.
You all know the song. It's one of the most famous songs about soccer ever: a man listing off names of past and present elite players while championing Zinedine Zidane in the chorus. But who is really "the strongest of them all"? Well, here's my ranking:
When you limit your playing career to Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain (and represent the English national team for 14 years), you're inevitably going to play alongside some of the world's best players. What's more, if you're a really great passer of the ball, which David Beckham was, you're going to provide a few classy assists for that talent.
With Real Madrid simply needing to avoid defeat to capture their first La Liga crown in five years, Barcelona held out slim hope that 11th place Malaga could use the friendly confines of Estadio La Rosaleda to play the perfect match and shock the side from the Spanish capital. That hope lasted for all of two minutes before Cristiano Ronaldo delivered Real Madrid their opener.
Behind a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid earned a 4-1 victory at Celta Vigo to move within a point of clinching La Liga.
Ronaldo opened the scoring with a stellar left-footed strike from 18 yards out, and he went to his left boot again in the 48th minute to extend Madrid's lead. His first goal, number 367 in league competition, made him the all-time leading scorer across all five major European Leagues.
You could say it’s been an abnormal season for Cristiano Ronaldo. We’ve all gotten used to the Portuguese star playing almost every single competitive match and reaching outrageous totals of 50 or 60 goals a campaign.
This season, however, Ronaldo has scored 37 goals across all competitions, and he’s appeared in 43 of Real Madrid’s 57 official games — a total of only 75%. This is a significant change from last season when he scored a total of 51 goals and played 48 of Real’s 52 matches — a total of 92%.