By Patrick Pierce
There are few players in the history of football who are as incredible with the ball as Cristiano Ronaldo. While the 33-year old’s career is full of spectacular moments, his dramatic goal for Real Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal match against Juventus is one that will go down in history books.
The Portuguese player left both fans and punters stunned with his awe-inspiring bicycle kick off Dani Carvajal’s cross. It’s these type of spectacular performances that have made Ronaldo a hot favourite among punters too. The starting-out football bettors in particular have been banking upon sign-up bonuses and free bets offered by reputed betting sites, and are making Ronaldo’s reliability count for them!
As the football star boasts of many other incredible goals, here we’ve compiled a list of the top 3 goals from his career to date.
40-yard strike, Manchester United vs Porto, April 15, 2009
There was considerable pressure on Ronaldo for this game since he was going back to his home country for a second-leg Champions League quarterfinal against Porto, where the latter club was already in a comfortable spot following a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Old Trafford. However just six minutes into the game, Ronaldo received a smooth pass from Anderson deep inside Porto’s mid-field, and fired an unstoppable 40 yard salvo towards Porto’s goal that managed to find its way into the top corner.
Porto never recovered from the incredible strike, and Manchester United eventually proceeded to the finals, where they beat their arch rivals Chelsea to lift the Champions League Trophy. Talking a bit more about MU and Ronaldo, do you know that Sir Alex Ferguson once made Cristiano Ronaldo cry?!
Confusing Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid vs Atletico, April 11, 2012
In spring of 2012 Real Madrid were a formidable force in La Liga, but were under considerable pressure to defend their leading position against trailing Barcelona. On a visit to Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo opened the scoreline with his signature swerving free kick, but the scales were quickly leveled by Radamel Falcao’s equalizer. The outcome appeared dismal for Madrid until Ronaldo picked up the ball from the left wing, and using Fabio Coentrao’s overlapping run as a decoy, he set himself in a position to deliver an incredibly powerful shot that went over Courtois, and landed comfortably in the far top corner.
World Cup Qualifier, Portugal vs. Sweden, November 19, 2013
The World Cup qualifying match between Portugal and Sweden was widely regarded as being a face-off between Zlatan Ibrahimovic vs Cristiano Ronaldo, and in the end the match actually did end up turning out that way. Ronaldo had scored the only goal in the first leg of the match in Lisbon, and added another in the second leg held at Stockholm. However, this was quickly followed up by two successive goals by Ibrahimovic in four minutes, placing Sweden in a comfortable spot to qualify for the finals in Brazil.
For Ronaldo, his country’s precarious situation added to the challenge, and he quickly responded by adding a double to the tally. The third strike stands out especially, as Ronaldo calmly handled Moutinho’s meticulous pass and slammed the ball into the goal, going around Andreas Isaksson at an extremely tight angle.
These goals are testament to the player’s greatness and one can only hope that Ronaldo is able to maintain his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.