In just his fourth game for Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals to cement his place among the greatest ever scorers.
In the Saudi side’s 4-0 win against Al Wheda on Thursday night, the 38-year-old also scored his 500th goal of his league career and fulfilled a pledge at the same time with his hat-trick.
AFP
Ronaldo netted four times for Al Nassr and also ensured he has scored a hat-trick in his last 14 seasons as a professional
In April 2022, he tweeted: “30 hat-tricks before 30 and 30 hat-tricks after 30. It’s time to unbalance the scale!”
He has now achieved it, with his four-goal haul bringing up his 61st in treble in total – and making it 31 after the age of 30.
“Great feeling to have scored four goals and reaching my 500th league goal in a very solid win by the team,” Ronaldo tweeted after the game.
He wasted no time in making an impact, finding the bottom right corner with a low and powerful strike from inside the area to make it 1-0 on 21 minutes.
He netted his second shortly before half-time, with the other two goals coming in the second half to seal the victory in Saudi Arabia.
And as is the custom in football, he took home the match ball for scoring at least three times.
@Cristiano Twitter
His latest hat-trick means he has stuck to his word
Among those to sign his match ball was the referee
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Players usually ask their teammates to sign the ball, with Ronaldo also asking the ref to pen his name.
Ronaldo is only the fifth player in history to score 500 career league goals.
He now joins legends such as Pele and Ferenc Puskas with such an honour, achieving the record at his fifth senior club.
Counterpart Lionel Messi is still ten goals shy of the target. However, that’ll surely be in the back of Ronaldo’s mind, with the forward now clearly finding his feet in the Saudi Pro League.
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