Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th club career goal in Manchester United‘s 2-1 win over Everton on Sunday night, making him the first player to ever do so.
This is just one of many other goalscoring records CR7 has to his name over a 20-year playing career and while Erling Haaland might be the biggest goal machine in Manchester right now – or anywhere for that matter – Ronaldo’s longevity is rather incredible.
First up, let’s deal with his most recent landmark: 700 club goals.
Ronaldo started out his career at Sporting Lisbon, netting just five before being snapped up by Man United the first time around where he went on to score 84 goals.
Then came Real Madrid, where he etched himself into history with a whopping 292 goals in 311 games. He spent nearly a decade in the Spanish capital before moving to Juventus, where he scored 81 goals in just under a century of appearances.
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After returning to Old Trafford last year, he scored his 144th goal for United over two spells on Sunday. This is how he did it:
The Ronaldo vs Messi debate is one that will never be settled but while many may feel the latter is the more gifted footballer overall, you can’t argue with numbers and 140 goals to Messi’s 127 in the Champions League is a gap we don’t see being closed any time soon.
We certainly don’t expect anybody to score a better one than this:
OH. MY. WORD! 😱
Cristiano Ronaldo with an outrageous overhead kick!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 3, 2018
Most international goals
Doing it in the big European games is one thing but there is no bigger stage than representing your country at an international tournament and Ronaldo has been Portugal’s hero and top goalscorer for years.
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He became their leading goalscorer all the way back in 2014 before going on to break Ferenc Puskás’ European record of 84 national-team goals at the 2018 World Cup. He now sits on 117 goals for his country, the most of any male player — no matter how many time Pele tries to move the goalposts.
Here’s just 10 of them:
Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal’s all-time top scorer with 99 goals to date 🇵🇹
It seems there is no number too big for the Portuguese star and even at 37, he is still scoring goals at the highest level and he hit the professional pinnacle not long after returning to United last season.
On 12 March, 2021, Ronaldo broke Joseph Bican’s record nearly 70-year-old record of 805 competitive goals with a hattrick against Spurs that very much rolled back the years and stamped his name even deeper into the history books.
With the veteran now off the mark for the Premier League season, we expect there’ll be more to come. No matter his age, how many minutes he gets or well he plays, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring goals is just a fact of life.
There will inevitably come a time when someone will take his goalscoring crown — and we have a feeling it might a certain blonde-haired individual across the other side of Manchester — but on this, it feels like Messi will always come second to Ronaldo as the greatest goalscorer of all-time
Man City fan jailed after causing £10k damage to a police vehicle following Champions League victory
Emily Sergeant
A Manchester City fan has been jailed for his part in large-scale disorder following the club’s Champions League victory.
The court heard how, following Manchester City’s Champions League Final win over Inter Milan in Istanbul in Turkey on Saturday 10 June 2023, jubilant fans flocked to the streets of Manchester city centre for late-night celebrations.
The large influx of fans in high spirits prompted a police response to ‘ensure public safety’ and ‘prevent any public disorder’, according to Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
However, the disorder did begin to escalate despite police presence.
A number of fans, including 22-year-old Leon Blackett, scaled a police vehicle and proceeded to jump up and down on it, which subsequently caused more than £10,000 worth of damage, and resulted in the vehicle having to be written off.
#JAILED | Leon Blackett (14/01/2003) of Craigmore Avenue, has been been handed a three-month jail term for causing £10k worth of damage to a police vehicle following the club's Champions League win in 2023, along with 41 months for other offences.
Following the disorder, an investigation was launched by GMP’s City Centre policing, with officers obtaining social media and CCTV footage that helped them to identify those responsible.
Blackett admitted to the offence, after he was arrested on Thursday 19 October 2023.
Following admitting to the offence, Blackett was sentenced to 44 months in prison – a three-month jail term for this football-related offence, along with 41 months for possession of a bladed article and a domestic related communications offence.
He has also been given a seven-year Football Banning Order, commencing on the day Blackett received his sentence.
“The actions by Blackett in the wake of Manchester City’s historic Champions League Final victory were completely unacceptable,” commented PC Matt Ford, from GMP’s Specialist Operations Planning Unit.
“This is a timely reminder to those who commit crimes while following the football in another country, we will seek prosecutions for unacceptable behaviour.”
Featured Image – GMP
Sport
Six Nations to stay free-to-air as broadcasters strike new TV deal
Danny Jones
Good news for rugby fans as the Guinness Six Nations is set to remain free-to-air for the foreseeable future following a new deal being struck between the competition and its current broadcasters.
With the 2025 tournament approaching its conclusion, the organisers are already looking ahead to the next year and how to contest will be marketed, with many predicting the rights to be snapped up by a major sporting channel.
Fortunately, however, the Six Nations‘ present coverage partners have managed to keep the games as part of the current TV license package after striking a new four-year deal.
The agreement between BBC and ITV, who air all of the annual fixtures between them at the moment, will see the pair host the matches until 2029 at the very least.
As mentioned, it was thought that broadcasters and streaming platforms like TNT Sports might secure the licensing for at least part of the tournament as they continue to expand their large and varied service but, for now, UK coverage is staying right where it is.
Under the new contract, ITV will show 10 games per season, including every England match, while the BBC will air the remaining five fixtures.
BBC will also host all Wales and Scotland home games bar when the two nations play England at Murrayfieldand the Principality Stadiums, respectively.
Better still, not only will the men’s competition be staying free-to-air but BBC will continue to show every game during the Women’s Six Nations as the interest in female rugby continues to grow.
In fact, it’s having quite a boom here in Greater Manchester on its own.
Greater Mancs making strides for the next generation.
This year’s tournament has been as blockbuster and nail-baiting as ever, with England still in with a chance of winning the whole thing if they beat Wales with a bonus point – provided France fail to beat Scotland in the final game.
England’s last game gets underway at 4:45pm and it’s all to play for.
You can find all the best places to watch the remainder of the action down below:
Danny Jones -
10th October 2022 
