Cristiano Ronaldo 100: The best scoring stats behind Portugal star´s stunning century

Cristiano Ronaldo has long made European football his personal playground and now counts a century of international goals among his seemingly endless achievements.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner superbly struck the celebrated number 100 in Portugal’s Nations League meeting with Sweden on Tuesday.

It was just his fourth Nations League goal, but across a 17-year Portugal career there are many more mind-bending numbers to be found in a three-figure tally surpassed only by one man, Iran’s Ali Daei, in international football.

To mark the milestone, we have mined the Opta data to bring you six of the best stats behind Ronaldo’s terrific ton.

Love this feeling  pic.twitter.com/e7bZ9vtJJU

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) November 15, 2019

6 – Ronaldo has scored multiple international goals against six of the teams presently ranked in FIFA’s top 20: Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and latest opponents Sweden.

7 – The former Manchester United star has feasted on Lithuania in this qualifying section, putting seven goals past Valdas Urbonas’s side in the space of two games. Indeed, those goals makes the Baltic side his all-time most profitable opponent.

9 – Portugal named Ronaldo in their Euro 2004 squad at the end of his first season at Old Trafford. The then-teenager scored twice and was named in the official team of the tournament, beginning a love affair with the Euros that has yielded nine goals in total – two more than he has managed at the World Cup.

14 – Ronaldo’s most prolific season in a Portugal shirt was also one of his most memorable at club level. He struck 14 times for his country in 2016-17 and celebrated a LaLiga-Champions League double with Real Madrid.

25 – Once a touchline-hugging winger, Ronaldo has developed into a true attacking all-rounder to the point of scoring 25 of his international goals with his head, three more than have come from his left foot.

28 – When others are tiring, Ronaldo tends to be at his sharpest. The 34-year-old has scored more often – 28 times – in the final 15 minutes of matches for Portugal than in any other interval.