Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro,[2] OIH (born 5 February 1985),[3] known as Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguesefootballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Madrid and captains the Portugal national team. He became the most expensive footballer in history when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth £80 million (€94 million/$131.6 million), a record that would later be reportedly broken by Gareth Bale, who joined Real Madrid in 2013 for £85 million (€100 million).[4] Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid, under the terms of which he is paid €21 million per year (after taxes), makes him the highest-paid footballer in the world,[5] and his buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.[6]
Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo caught the attention of Manchester Unitedmanager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15 million) in 2003. In 2004, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the FA Cup.
Ronaldo was the first player playing in England to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or.[7] He placed second in the Ballon d'Or in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012. He was awarded theEuropean Golden Shoe in both 2008 and 2011. In 2008, he won three of the four main PFA and FWA trophies and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year, FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, and the Onze d'Or.[8][9][10] In 2007 and 2008, Ronaldo was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo was the inaugural winner of theFIFA Puskás Award for the Goal of the Year in 2009.
Ronaldo is regarded by some to be the best footballer in today's game and one of the greatest of all time.[11] Ronaldo is the first top European league player to reach 40 goals in a single season in two consecutive years, fastest Real Madrid player to reach one hundred league goals, and the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga.[12] He also holds records for most goals scored in a season for Real Madrid and most goals scored per minute in La Liga for a Real Madrid player. In January 2013, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 300th club goal.[13][14]
Ronaldo is a Portuguese international and made his debut against Kazakhstan in August 2003. He has been capped over 100 times and is his country's joint-top goalscorer of all time. With Portugal he has participated in five major tournaments;UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. He scored his first international goal in the opening game of the Euro 2004 against Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach the final. He took over the captaincy of the side in July 2008 and went on to captain Portugal to the semi-finals at the Euro 2012 and finished the competition as the joint best scorer.
He wore the number 7 shirt at Manchester United, which was previously worn by George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. After spending his first year at Real Madrid wearing the number 9 shirt, he began wearing the number 7 again following the departure of the legendary Raúl.
Early life
Ronaldo was born in Santo António, a neighbourhood of Funchal, Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener.[15] His second given name "Ronaldo" was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor. He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.[3] His great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from Cape Verde.[16] The family was staunchly Catholic and lived in poverty. Ronaldo had no toys and shared a room with his brother and sisters.[17] Ronaldo was popular with other students at school, but he was expelled after he threw a chair at his teacher. Ronaldo later said of the incident: "He disrespected me."[18] At the age of 14, Ronaldo agreed with his mother to then focus entirely on football.[18]
Club career
Early career
At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur team Andorinha, where his father was the kit man. In 1995, Ronaldo signed with local club Nacional, and, after a title-winning campaign, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP, who subsequently signed him for an undisclosed sum.[19]
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the Academia Sporting, the club's football academy, in Alcochete. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season.[20] He scored two goals in his league debut on 7 October 2002, which Sporting CP won 3–0 against Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the 2002 European Under-17 Championship.[21]
At the age of 15 Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital.[22] While there, he had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.[23]
In November 2002, Ronaldo was invited to Arsenal's training ground, London Colney to meet manager Arsène Wenger and his coaching staff.[24] Wenger, who was interested in signing the midfielder, had arranged to meet Ronaldo's representatives, Formation (who suggested the player originally to Gérard Houllier, then Liverpool's manager and Joan Laporta, then Barcelona's president) in the subsequent months to discuss a transfer arrangement.[25][26] However he came to the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the inauguration of the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. Ronaldo's performance impressed the Manchester United players, who urged Ferguson to sign him.[27]
On April 2013, Ronaldo was honoured by Sporting as the club announced that the player had become their 100,000th member.[28]
Manchester United
2003–2006
Ronaldo became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million[29] (£12.24 million) after the 2002–03 season.[30] He requested the number 28 (his number at Sporting), as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by players such as Johnny Berry, George Best, Steve Coppell, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham, and subsequently worn by Michael Owen and Antonio Valencia. "After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."[31]
Ronaldo made his team debut as a 60th-minute substitute in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. Ronaldo ended his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0 FA Cup final victory over Millwall.[32]
He scored United's 1000th Premier League goal on 29 October 2005 in a 4–1 loss to Middlesbrough.[33] He scored ten goals in all competitions, and fans voted him to his first FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award in 2005.
He was sent off in the Manchester derby at the City of Manchester Stadium on 14 January 2006 (a game which United lost 3–1) for kicking City's former United player Andrew Cole.[34]
Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football in the 2005–06 season, scoring the third goal in Manchester United's 4–0 Football League Cup final victory over Wigan Athletic.[35]
2006–2009
The 2006–2007 season proved to be the breakout year for Ronaldo, as he broke the 20 goal barrier for the first time and picked up his first league title with Manchester United. An important factor in this success was his one-to-one training by Rene Meulensteen. Meulenstein coached him in moves to make himself more unpredictable. He also helped him to work better with his team-mates, calling for the ball and scoring more 'ugly' goals instead of waiting for the special occasion when he could score the 'beautiful' goals for which he was already famous.[36]
In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so after Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Robbie Fowler in 1996.[37][38] He scored his 50th Manchester United goal against city rivals Manchester City on 5 May 2007 as United claimed their first Premier League title in four years, and he was voted into his second consecutive FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award at the end of the year.
Despite rumours circulating in March 2007 that Real Madrid were willing to pay an unprecedented €80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo,[39] he signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week (£31 million total) extension with United on 13 April, making him the highest-paid player in team history.[40][41]
Ronaldo amassed a host of personal awards for the season. He won the PFA Players' Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards, joining Andy Gray (in 1977) as the only players to receive this honour.[42] In April, he completed the treble by winning the PFA Fans' Player of the Year. He also won the FWA Footballer of the Year, becoming the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards. Ronaldo was also one of eight Manchester United players named in the 2006–07 PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
Ronaldo's 2007–08 season began with a red card for a headbutt on Portsmouth player Richard Hughes during United's second match of the season, for which he was punished with a three-match ban.[43] Ronaldo said he had "learned a lot" from the experience and would not let players "provoke" him in the future.[44] After scoring the only goal in a Champions League away match against Sporting, Ronaldo also scored the injury-time winner in the return fixture as Manchester United topped their Champions League group.[45]
He finished as the runner-up to Kaká for the 2007 Ballon d'Or,[46] and was third in the running for the FIFA World Player of the Year award, behind Kaká and Lionel Messi.[47]
Ronaldo scored his first hat trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against Newcastle United at Old Trafford on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League table.[48] He scored his twenty-third league goal of the season in a 2–0 win againstReading, equalling his entire total for the 2006–07 season.[49] During a 1–1 Champions League first knockout round draw against Lyon on 20 February, an unidentified Lyon supporter continuously aimed a green laser at Ronaldo and United teammate Nani, prompting an investigation by UEFA.[50] One month later, Lyon were fined CHF5,000 (£2,427) for the incident.[51]
On 19 March 2008, Ronaldo captained United for the first time in his career in a home win over Bolton, scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory.[52]The second of the goals was his 33rd of the campaign, which set a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best's forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967–68 season.[53] Ronaldo scored another brace in a 4–0 win over Aston Villa on 29 March, which at the time gave him 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches as both a starter and substitute. Ronaldo's scoring streak was rewarded with his becoming the first winger to win the 2007–08 European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of Mallorca's Dani Güiza.[54]
In the 2007–08 Champions League final on 21 May against league rivals Chelsea, Ronaldo scored the opening goal after 26 minutes, which was negated by a Chelsea equaliser in the 45th minute as the match ended 1–1 after extra time. His misfire in the penalty shoot-out put Chelsea in position to win the trophy, but John Terry shot wide right after slipping on the pitch surface, and Manchester United emerged victorious 6–5 on penalties. Ronaldo was named the UEFA Fans' Man of the Match,[55] and wrapped up the campaign with a career-high 42 goals in all competitions, falling four short of Denis Law's team-record mark of 46 in the 1963–64 season. In the Champions League he was also named best forward and player of the tournament and was the competition's top goalscorer.
On 5 June 2008, Sky Sports reported that Ronaldo had expressed an interest in moving to Real Madrid if they offered him the same amount of money the team had allegedly promised him earlier in the year.[56] Manchester United filed a tampering complaint with FIFA on 9 June over Madrid's alleged pursuit of Ronaldo, but FIFA declined to take any action.[57][58] Speculation that a transfer would happen continued until 6 August, when Ronaldo confirmed that he would stay at United for at least another year.[59]
Ronaldo underwent ankle surgery at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam on 7 July.[60] He returned to action on 17 September in United's goalless UEFA Champions League group stage draw with Villarreal as a substitute for Park Ji-Sung,[61] and scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1 League Cup third round win over Middlesbrough on 24 September.
In a 5–0 win over Stoke City on 15 November 2008, Ronaldo scored his 100th and 101st goals in all competitions for Manchester United, both from free kicks.[62] The goals also meant that Ronaldo had now scored against each of the other 19 teams in the Premier League at the time.[63] On 2 December, Ronaldo became Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or recipient since George Best in 1968. He finished with 446 points, 165 ahead of runner-up Lionel Messi.[64] He was awarded the Silver Ball after finishing with two goals as United won the Club World Cup on 19 December.[65]
On 8 January 2009, Ronaldo was uninjured in a single-car accident in which he wrote off his Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in a tunnel along theA538 near Manchester Airport. A breathalyser test he gave to police officers at the scene was negative, and he attended training later that morning.[66] Four days later, he became the first Premier League player ever to be named the FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to being the first Portuguese player to win the award since Luís Figo in 2001.[67]
Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal of the season, and first since the final against Chelsea in a 2–0 victory over Internazionale that sent United into the quarter-finals.[68] In the second leg against Porto, Ronaldo scored a 40-yard game-winning goal as United advanced to the semi-finals. For this goal Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the first player to win the FIFA Puskás Award, in 2009, an honour handed by FIFA to the best goal of the year.[69] He later called it the best goal he had ever scored.[70][71]Ronaldo participated in his second consecutive Champions League final, but made little impact in United's 2–0 loss to Barcelona. He finished with 53 appearances in all competitions, which was four higher than the previous year, but scored sixteen fewer goals (26) than his career-best total of 42 from the previous season.
On 11 June, Manchester United accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had expressed his desire to leave the club.[72] It was confirmed by a representative of the Glazer family that the sale was fully condoned by Ferguson.[73] When Ronaldo had eventually completed his transfer to Real, he expressed his gratitude towards Ferguson for helping him develop as a player, saying, "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important factors and most influential in my career."[74]
Real Madrid
2009–10 season
On 26 June 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million (€94 million) becoming the most expensive footballer in history,[75] after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract.[76] Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year[77] and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause.[78] He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July,[79] where he was handed the number 9 jersey.[80] The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano.[81] Ronaldo was welcomed by between 80,000 and 85,000 fans at his presentation at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, surpassing Diego Maradona's record of 75,000 fans when he was presented in Italy, after he was transferred from Barcelona to Napoli in 1984.[82][83] The event was broadcast live on the Spanish and Portuguese public TV stations, RTVE and RTP respectively.[84][85]
Ronaldo made his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1–0 win over Shamrock Rovers. His first goal came one week later with a penalty in Madrid's 4–2 win over LDU Quito.[86] On 29 August, Ronaldo capped his La Liga debut with a goal, scoring Real's second from the penalty spot in a 3–2 home win against Deportivo La Coruña.[87] On 15 September, Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5–2 away victory over Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real.[88] He broke a Madrid club record when he scored in a league match against Villarreal and thus became the first ever player to score in his first four La Liga appearances.[89]
An ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while Ronaldo was on international duty with Portugal against Hungary, kept him out until 25 November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions League group stage matches against Milan.[citation needed]Ronaldo made his first post-injury start in a 1–0 El Clásico defeat to Barcelona on 29 November. On 6 December, he was sent off for the first time in his Madrid career during Real's 4–2 victory against Almería, a match which also saw him miss a penalty. He was carded first for removing his shirt during a goal celebration, then for kicking out at an opponent three minutes later.[90]
Ronaldo was second in the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year award and also second in the 2009 Ballon d'Or award. On 5 May 2010, Ronaldo scored his first Real Madrid hat-trick in an away game against Mallorca. Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín scored 53 league goals during the course of the season and became Real's highest scoring league duo in their history.[91]
2010–11 season
With the departure of Raúl during the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed the number 7 jersey for Real Madrid.[92] On 23 October 2010, Ronaldo scored four goals againstRacing de Santander,[93] the most goals he has ever scored in a single match.[94] This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches (three in La Liga, one in the Champions League, and two for Portugal) in which Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Ronaldo has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid's 5–0 defeat by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Ronaldo scored his second La Liga hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over Athletic Bilbao.[95] His final match of the calendar year saw him score a hat-trick in a 8–0 trashing of Levante in the Copa del Rey.[96]
Ronaldo began 2011 with a very promising outlook, especially after Real Madrid acknowledged he had broken numerous goalscoring records, previously settled and held by classic players such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Hugo Sánchez, and Manuel Alday.[97][98] Ronaldo began his scoring spree by scoring two vital goals in a tight 3–2 victory away to Getafe.[99] He then consolidated his massive performances by scoring a hat-trick and assisting Kaká to score his first league goal after his return from injury in a 4–2 victory overVillarreal on 9 January. On 3 March 2011, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in a 7–0 trashing of Málaga, but was affected by a muscle injury at the end of the match, which forced him to spend 10 days on the sidelines.
In April, he made another massive comeback from injury, sustaining a three-game scoring streak (including two goals in Champions League quarter-finals against Tottenham Hotspur), thus arriving to the first of a historical series of four El Clásico encounters two goals short of breaking his personal record of 42 goals in all competitions in a single season, achieved at Manchester United in the 2007–08 season.
During the second league edition of El Clásico, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot and took his tally to 41 goals, also taking his scoring streak to four games. On 20 April, Ronaldo scored the winning goal against Barcelona in the 103rd minute of the Copa del Rey final.[100] This goal would later be chosen as both Ronaldo's and Real Madrid's best goal in the season by several fan polls, including those of Marca[101] and Real Madrid's website.[102] 7 May saw Real travel to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to take on Sevilla, where Ronaldo led the thrashing of the Andalusian side, scoring four goals in a 6–2 victory. These four goals took him to 46 for the season which surpassed his previous record of 42 in a season playing for Manchester United.[103] Three days later he reached 49 goals for the season, by scoring another hat-trick in a 4–0 home win against Getafe. On 15 May, after scoring two free-kick goals in a 3–1 win overVillarreal, he equalled the La Liga record with most goals in a season with 38, a record previously held by Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sánchez.
On 21 May, he scored two goals in the last league match of the season against Almería, taking his Pichichi total to 41, and La Liga total to 40, becoming the only player to score 40 goals in a La Liga season. By doing this, he won the European Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different leagues. The sports newspaper Marca, which awards the Pichichi Trophy, included the goal scored on 18 September 2010 against Real Sociedad in Ronaldo's goal count, which had been officially attributed to Pepe.[104] Should this goal be granted to Ronaldo, his goal count in the Pichichi Trophy would tally 41 goals. Ronaldo also broke Zarra's record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every 70.7 minutes. However, regardless of this goal polemic, Ronaldo's record-breaking figures became a source of major attention from public media, such as being included in the Sports Illustrated World XI,[105] rating him as one of the world's best footballers.
Ronaldo ended his second season at Real Madrid by winning his first club honour with the club, the 2011 Copa del Rey, notching a total of 53 goals (not granting him the controversial goal from Pepe) in all competitions, having scored 25 goals with his right foot (excluding free-kicks and penalty-kicks) and 9 with his left foot.[106]
2011–12 season
Real Madrid's pre-season began with a 4–1 victory over MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy,[107] with goals from Callejón, Joselu, Ronaldo, and Benzema.[108] Four days later Ronaldo scored a second half hat-trick in a 3–0 win against Guadalajara. Ronaldo's preseason performance was highly praised as world media kept hailing Ronaldo's extreme competitiveness and motivation, even during friendly matches. On 17 August 2011, Ronaldo scored his 100th goal with Real Madrid with a first-half equaliser against Barcelona in the second leg of the 2011 Spanish Supercup in the Camp Nou. On 27 August 2011, he opened the 2011–12 La Liga season with a hat-trick in a 6–0 win at Real Zaragoza.
In the first weeks of September, Ronaldo's physical performance was subject to scrutiny by world media, after Castrol released a television film named Ronaldo: Tested to the Limit where he was put to test in several fields, including mental and physical. Conclusions from the movie and doctors in the weeks following claimed that Ronaldo was one of the best athletes in the world, excelling in football and outstanding in almost every other category.[citation needed] On 24 September, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick (including two penalties) in Real Madrid's 6–2 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu. This was his ninth La Liga hat-trick and tenth hat-trick for Real Madrid.
On 27 September, Ronaldo scored Real's opening goal in a 3–0 victory over Ajax at the Santiago Bernabéu in the UEFA Champions League. On 22 October, after not scoring in his previous three games, Ronaldo scored his tenth La Liga hat-trick and eleventh in total for Real Madrid in a match away to Málaga, which Real Madrid won 4–0. His twelfth Real Madrid hat-trick followed on 6 November in a 7–1 victory over Osasunathat ensured Madrid stayed top of the table heading into the international break.[109]
On 19 November 2011, Ronaldo scored Real's second goal in a 2–3 defeat of Valencia. On 26 November 2011, Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1 defeat of Atlético Madrid in the El Derbi madrileño. On 3 December 2011, Ronaldo scored Madrid's second goal in a 0–3 defeat ofSporting de Gijón in La Liga. He was one of the three finalists for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or. On 13 December 2011, Ronaldo scored the second goal against SD Ponferradina in the first leg of the Copa del Rey Round 4, the match ended in a 0–2 win. On 17 December 2011, Ronaldo scored his twelfth La Liga hat-trick and thirteenth overall in a 6–2 win away to Sevilla.
Ronaldo was third in the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, behind Lionel Messi and Xavi, and second in the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or, behind Lionel Messi and ahead of Xavi. In Real Madrid's next game in La Liga at home to Granada Ronaldo scored the fifth goal in a 5–1 win. On 22 January 2012, Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1 win over Athletic Bilbao, and on 28 January scored Real Madrid's second and winning goal in a 3–1 win against Zaragoza. Ronaldo also scored two goals against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey Quarter-finals, which Real lost 4–3 on aggregrate. On 12 February 2012, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, his thirteenth in La Liga and fourteenth for Real Madrid in a 4–2 home win over Levante. This win stretched Real Madrid's lead over second-placed Barcelona to 10 points.
On 24 March 2012, Ronaldo reached more than 100 goals in La Liga in just three seasons at Real Madrid when he scored the first of his two goals in the match against Real Sociedad, the second quickest La Liga player to reach that milestone in the league after Isidro Lángara, reaching the milestone in 92 matches and breaking the previous club record held by Puskás.[110] As of 24 March 2012, Ronaldo had averaged 1.01 goals per game in La Liga.
On 11 April, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in a 1–4 win, as well as assisting the last goal. His hat-trick, one goal from a free kick, one from 30 yards on the left wing and one penalty, gave him 40 league goals in the season, making him the only player in La Liga history, or in any other major European league, to score 40 goals in two seasons, even doing so in consecutive seasons. Ronaldo officially broke his previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season on 14 April, scoring in a 3–1 win against Sporting Gijón. On 25 April, in the second leg of the semi-finals in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League against Bayern Munich, Ronaldo converted a penalty from a David Alaba handball and scored a second goal from a pass from Mesut Özil. Extra time ended with the tie level at 3–3, and Real Madrid were eliminated in the shootout with Ronaldo's kick being saved by Manuel Neuer.[111]
On 13 May 2012, the last matchday, Ronaldo scored against Mallorca which made him the first player ever to score against every team in a single season in La Liga.[12] He ended his third season at Real Madrid by winning his first league title with the club, with a record 100 points, notching a total of 46 league goals and 60 goals in all competitions, breaking the Real Madrid record he had set the previous season. At the end of the season, Ronaldo claimed that he believed that he had played better than Lionel Messi in the 2011–12 season,[112] and he went on to win the Trofeo Alfredo Di Stefano as the La Liga player of the season.
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