Last night, Man City was a guest of Everton. This club won 3-1 but Haaland was not on the scoreboard. In fact, he had to sit out the entire match due to a foot injury. Coach Pep Guardiola confirmed that it will take until January 2024 for this striker to appear on the field.
Thus, Cristiano Ronaldo understands that he has officially become the top scorer of world football in 2023 with 53 goals. Before the year-end round, Ronaldo was 2 goals behind Mbappe and Haaland (50 compared to 52).
But if Mbappe has no chance to improve his performance due to the winter break of Ligue 1 and Haaland is injured, Ronaldo will have the opportunity to flourish in the Saudi Arabian National Championship.
In a less competitive environment and with the “monopoly” to take penalty kicks, Ronaldo had no difficulty surpassing his two juniors. He jumped to 53 with 3 goals, including a double penalty against Al Ittihad to lead the scoring list in 2023.
By dawn this morning, he officially became the 2023 record holder for the number of times he scored against his opponent. Not stopping there, Ronaldo has completed his collection of 5 records for 2023.
First, Ronaldo surpassed his two seniors Litmanen and Robbie Keane to become the first player to score in 6 EURO tournaments (including qualifying rounds and finals). This milestone was conquered by him on March 24, after 2 goals against Liechtenstein. Also in this match, he became the player with the most appearances for the national team (205 matches).
On August 30, he was the player who scored the most goals in national championships (528), surpassing the legendary Puskas. On November 16, he became the player with the most wins in EURO qualifying (32) after crushing Liechtenstein 20.
And by dawn this morning, the 5th milestone was conquered by Ronaldo, closing a year full of personal success for the 38-year-old superstar.