Cristiano Ronaldo

In the year 2021, Lionel Messi will turn 34 while Cristiano Ronaldo turns 36 in just one month’s time. Playing in their first matches of the New Year on Sunday, the duo showed just how important they remain to their respective clubs by providing match-winning moments.

Over in Spain, Messi returned from his extended winter break to appear in his 500th LaLiga match for Barcelona. He’s the first non-Spanish player to reach the milestone, and among active players, only Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos (505) and Real Betis’ Joaquín (565) have more.  

PARMA, Italy — Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, taking his Serie A tally for the season to 12, as defending champions Juventus cruised to a 4-0 win at Parma on Saturday.

Juve's 42-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon prevented Parma from taking an early lead when he saved with his legs from Juraj Kucka's close-range effort before the Turin side took complete control.

Dejan Kulusevski, who played for Parma last season, fired Juventus in front in the 23rd minute and Ronaldo headed the second three minutes later.

The 36th and perhaps final meeting between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ended fittingly at the Camp Nou on Tuesday with Juventus strolling to a 3-0 win against a sad, soft and directionless Barcelona. It’s all too evident why Messi — like Ronaldo before him at Real Madrid — is ready to move on.

Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to kick off the Derby della Mole with a bang. Instead he kicked it off with a clang.

As Juventus hosted city rival Torino on Saturday, Ronaldo attempted an audacious shot from midfield straight from the opening kickoff. While you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, you also miss 100 percent of the shots that go 20 yards over the goal. 

Ronaldo tried to score straight from kick off pic.twitter.com/uPimBREn7E

TURIN, Italy — Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 750th goal of his remarkable career in a 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday as Stephanie Frappart became the first female referee to take charge of a Champions League match.

Federico Chiesa, with his first-ever Champions League goal, and Alvaro Morata were also on target while Ronaldo reached another milestone although it was far from his most spectacular goal as the ball appeared to go in off his shin.

Hungarian club Ferencváros took a surprise lead over Italian giant Juventus 20 minutes into their Champions League Group G match. The goal scorer, Myrto Uzuni, celebrated by pulling out Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic Sii celebration. You can probably guess what happened next.

Cristiano Ronaldo's first-half double allowed Juventus to climb to second in the Serie A standings with a 2-0 win over Cagliari at Juventus Stadium on Saturday.

After a relatively quiet international break for Ronaldo, with one goal in three games for Portugal, he scored in the 38th minute in Turin, finding the net for the fifth successive league match.

Four minutes later the unstoppable 35-year-old brilliantly struck at the far post to double his side's advantage, taking him to eight league goals for the season.