Cristiano Ronaldo is about to return to Manchester United 12 years after leaving, however what sort of participant are the Premier League facet getting again?
Since leaving Previous Trafford for Actual Madrid in 2009 he has scored 551 membership objectives, gained 4 Champions Leagues, 4 Ballons d’Or, 4 league titles and a number of golden boots.
And whereas he’s, at 36, clearly previous his peak, the stats present he’s nonetheless one among Europe’s prime goalscorers.
So how do late-period Ronaldo’s stats maintain up in comparison with his earlier ones?
The objectives…
Ronaldo’s purpose figures have dipped considerably since he hit over 40 La Liga objectives for Actual Madrid in three out of 5 seasons. In 2014-15 he hit 61 objectives in 54 video games in all competitions.
However whereas his time at Juventus is not going to be deemed successful by his requirements, he nonetheless managed a formidable 101 objectives in 134 video games in all competitions.
Against this a youthful Ronaldo scored 118 objectives in 292 appearances in six seasons at United.
His 29 Serie A objectives final season had been sufficient for an Italian golden boot so as to add to his Premier League (2008) and La Liga ones (2011, 2014, 2015).
In truth since Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018, solely Robert Lewandowski (99) and Lionel Messi (91) have scored extra objectives in Europe’s prime 5 leagues than his 81.
That’s extra objectives than Harry Kane, Erling Braut Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and the remainder.
His Champions League scoring did tail off at Juventus although. He had hit double figures in every of his final seven seasons at Actual, however solely managed six, 4 and 4 in three years at Juve.
The trophies…
Ronaldo is the joint second most embellished European Cup/Champions League participant ever with 5 wins – 4 at Actual Madrid after one at Manchester United.
He has additionally gained the Ballon d’Or – for the very best participant on this planet – 4 extra occasions since he first gained it at United.
Within the 11 years since leaving United, he has ‘solely’ managed 4 league titles (two in Spain and two in Italy), and if his failure to win a Champions League with Juventus means his time there might be seen as a let-down, there was no notable dip within the quantity of trophies he has gained at membership degree throughout his profession.
In six years at Manchester United he averaged greater than a trophy a season – seven main ones in six years (together with three Premier League titles in a row) and three minor ones.
In 9 years at Actual Madrid, it was eight main competitions and eight minor ones.
And he gained three main trophies and two smaller ones in three years at Juventus – though their nine-year reign as champions was ended final season by Inter Milan.
We’ve outlined minor trophies as ones you qualify for by profitable a trophy (eg Group Defend, Tremendous Cups, Fifa Membership World Cup).
The assists…
Ronaldo’s sport has at all times been extra related to objectives than assists – though he did really arrange a variety of objectives in La Liga (87 assists in 9 seasons).
However lately, as he has develop into extra of a quantity 9, these assists have dried up barely. His previous 5 seasons – two at Actual and three at Juventus – have seen a median of 5.4 league assists.
That’s akin to his six seasons at United within the Premier League (5.67 assists a season).
The fashion of play
Cristiano Ronaldo has constructed up his physique and finish product since his early days at Manchester United
Ronaldo’s fashion has clearly modified through the years. At Manchester United he began off as a thin winger with arguably extra fashion than substance.
He obtained stronger and developed into extra of a purpose risk earlier than changing into a generation-defining goalscorer at Actual Madrid.
He was nonetheless concerned in loads of dribbling and passing in his first few years at Actual however ultimately grew to become extra of a centre ahead who was not concerned in build-up play a lot.
That change continued throughout his three seasons at Juventus.
Most notably his dribbles are down from 10.9 per 90 minutes within the league throughout his second season with United to about 5-6 throughout his peak Actual years – and now 3.1 in every of his previous three seasons in Serie A.
His passes per 90 minutes within the league final season had been 31.7 (down from a peak of 40.7 in 2009-10).
Ronaldo is taking fewer pictures too (5.4 per 90 minutes final season – in contrast with 7.8 at his peak) – however nonetheless akin to his United years.
What number of minutes within the legs?
Whereas Ronaldo doesn’t play each single sport any extra, he has nonetheless managed extra within the league than you would possibly count on lately.
He performed 33 occasions in Serie A in every of the previous two years, that includes in 85% of Juventus’ league video games in his time at Italy.
In truth the two,803 league minutes he managed final season was greater than in any of his six seasons at United.
