At this point in his storied career, Cristiano Ronaldo does not have many feats left to achieve, considering that he has already accomplished so much.
From being the all-time top goal-scorer in the UEFA Champions League and European Championships to the multitude of records that he holds in league play, Ronaldo has simply done what many other icons before him could not achieve during their careers.
Even as there were chatters over the past week regarding Ronaldo's uncertain future with Juventus, Bianconeri manager Massimiliano Allegri confirmed on Saturday that the Portuguese star will indeed stay put with the club for this season.
Ronaldo will well be aiming to help Juventus recapture the Serie A title and end its Champions League trophy drought, but these three possible milestones may also be on his mind for the upcoming campaign.
800 career goals
During a Euro 2020 qualification fixture against Ukraine in 2019, Ronaldo made history when he slotted home a penalty attempt for the 700th career goal of his career in both club and country play.
Many at the time speculated on whether Ronaldo would then later reach 800 career goals. Considering that many great forwards before him began to play like a shell of their former selves once they reached their mid-30s, this was certainly a fair assessment for the Juventus star.
Still, as Ronaldo has done plenty of times in his career before, he is on the verge of achieving a grand feat in his career.
As it stands, Ronaldo sits at 783 career goals scored; he has notched a combined 674 goals with Juventus, Real Madrid and Manchester United to go along with 109 with the Portuguese national team.
Barring any injury, Ronaldo should well reach this milestone over the opening half of this season.
New Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi should later follow Ronaldo in achieving this milestone as well. The Argentine needs a mere 52 goals to reach 800 in his career.
Most all-time league goals in Europe
Ronaldo has shown over the course of his career that he can regularly put out world-class performances regardless of the league he is playing in.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has won a Golden Boot award in three different leagues, which include claiming the Capocannoniere in Serie A last season following a 29-goal campaign.
Heading into the new Serie A season, Ronaldo has recorded an astounding 479 league goals in Europe, which ranks third all-time behind former Slavia Prague icon Josef Bican (518) and longtime Real Madrid star Ferenc Puskas (514).
As Ronaldo would need 40 goals this season to set this historic league goals record, he must then up his goal-scoring production if he aspires to do just that. The two-time Serie A winner has not scored at least 40 league goals since the 2014-2015 campaign while with Real Madrid; he notched 48 goals in La Liga play over the season. More so, he has only totaled for at least 30 league goals just once over his ongoing Juventus run, which came during the 2019-2020 season (31).
Ronaldo has surpassed expectations plenty of times before, but for him to achieve this record as soon as this season, it may be quite a long shot.
100 Serie A goals
Unlike the previous possible achievement for Ronaldo, this feat, in particular, would not be a record-setter. Still, it would be quite an accomplishment for the Serie A to reach 100 Serie A goals in four seasons at this stage in his career.
The Portuguese striker mounted for 81 goals over his opening three Serie A campaigns with Juventus, where he posted a keen 0.84 goals per game average.
For Ronaldo to score at least 19 goals in league play this season should be a target that he can achieve with relative ease. The only question remains on just when he may reach the century mark for goals in Serie A play.
Ronaldo has had the tendency to have sluggish periods in league play where he has a troublesome time finding the back of the net. Most notably, he had a stretch last season where he scored four goals over nine league games. For many other pure strikers in Serie A, they would be lauded for tallying this amount of goals over 24 percent of the season. But for Ronaldo, it is quite an underwhelming figure considering his goal-scoring prowess.
Overall, Ronaldo has plenty to prove this season, especially in Champions League play. Following a disappointing elimination at the hands of FC Porto in the round of 16 last season, the Bianconeri faces hefty pressure this season to pull off a deep run in the competition.
This will certainly be a season to watch for Juventus.
Follow Us
Subscribe