Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 900th goal of his remarkable career on Thursday as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in their first game of the 2024 UEFA Nations League.
At 39, Ronaldo achieved this landmark in front of his home fans at the Estadio da Luz stadium in Lisbon.
Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's 900th Career Goal
9️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ golos para o melhor da história do futebol ⚽️🐐👑#sporttvportugal #FUTEBOLnaSPORTTV #LigadasNações #Portugal #Croácia #CristianoRonaldo pic.twitter.com/DSo6xrgDKI
September 5, 2024AdvertisementRonaldo's goal celebration showed how much this milestone meant to him. He was visibly emotional as he raised his hands and dropped to his knees before getting up and being congratulated by all of his teammates. Ronaldo later thanked and waved to the home crowd who had come out in numbers in anticipation of this historic milestone.
"It means a lot," Ronaldo said after Portugal's 2-1 win over Croatia. "It was a milestone I wanted to reach for a long time. I knew I would reach this number, because as I continue to play, it would happen naturally."
"It was emotional because it's a milestone," he said. "It seems like any other milestone, but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals. It's a unique milestone in my career."
Ronaldo Targets 1000 Goals
Soon after reaching his milestone, Ronaldo took to social media platforms to thank everyone who helped him achieve this record. He wrote, "I dreamed of this, and I have more dreams. Thank you all!" via a post on X.
AdvertisementI dreamed of this, and I have more dreams. Thank you all! pic.twitter.com/2SS3ZoG2Gl
September 5, 2024Ronaldo who had recently launched his official YouTube Channel UR Cristiano, posted a short clip on the video platform celebrating his 900 career goals.
5 days before Ronaldo achieved this feat, he had already set a personal milestone of reaching 1000 goals. In a video posted on his YouTube Channel, Ronaldo spoke about his dream to achieve this feat in a conversation with his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand.
AdvertisementAt 5:28, Ronaldo talks about his desire to become the first player to score 1000 goals once he achieves 900 goals. In his conversation with Ferdinand, he talks about setting himself a challenge to reach the 1000 goals landmark.
Recently, the Portuguese goal scorer launched his official YouTube channel and within just 90 minutes, the channel gained over one million subscribers, setting a new YouTube record for the fastest rise to a million.
At the time of writing this article, Cristiano Ronaldo's YouTube channel has already surpassed 57.5 million subscribers. In doing so, his channel is now among the Top 50 Most-Subscribed YouTube Channels.Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.