Ranking Cristiano Ronaldo’s five greatest games for Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to have played for Real Madrid. He joined the club from Manchester United in the summer of 2009 and stayed until the end of the 2017-18 season when he decided to join the Serie A outfit, Juventus. During his time at Real Madrid, Ronaldo registered a total of 400 appearances for the club in all competitions and scored 421 goals whilst registering 115 assists, per FBref. He remains the top scorer in club history.
Having already ranked the best goals of Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid, we now take a look at his best performances during his nine seasons with the club. Here is a ranked list of his top 5 greatest games in the famous white shirt.
5. Real Madrid 4-1 Juventus, UEFA Champions League Final 2016/17
The Champions League has always been a club priority for Real Madrid. It was no surprise that even Ronaldo valued this trophy more. The Champions League was about proving that Real Madrid were the best among the best teams in Europe and Ronaldo’s winning attitude resonated well with the competition’s premise. It is no surprise that four of his top five performances on this list are from the coveted Champions League.
One such performance came on June 3, 2017, when Real Madrid faced Juventus in the final of the UEFA Champions League. The match was played at the National Stadium of Wales in Cardiff on a night that we today call the night of La Duodecima. Juventus started strong, with former Madrid-man Gonzalo Higuain being a constant threat to Keylor Navas’s goal. Real Madrid had to rely on their counter-attacking abilities.
In one such counter-attack in the 20th minute, a Dani Carvajal cut-back landed perfectly for Cristiano Ronaldo, and he started the scoring as he buried a low-drilled shot perfectly into the bottom left corner. But it only took six minutes for the Italians to hurt Real Madrid back in style as Mario Mandzukic chested a ball to set himself up for an overhead volley that Navas had no answer to.
Real Madrid had a bright start to the second half. They kept attacking in regular waves but couldn’t find an end product until the hour mark. Carlos Casemiro launched a hopeful shot that found the back of the net after a heavy deflection and Real were back in front. Three minutes later, Luka Modric found Cristiano Ronaldo with a cut-back and the Portuguese buried it past Gianluigi Buffon’s into the near post to complete his brace. The night was summed up by Marco Asensio who scored a fourth for Real Madrid and they successfully defended their Champions League crown.