Real Madrid stars queued up to welcome Cristiano Ronaldo into the record books after he became the club’s all-time leading league scorer.
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The Portuguese predator blasted five goals in his team’s 6-0 victory at Espanyol on Saturday, taking his La Liga total for the Spanish giants to 230 goals and overtaking Raul’s tally of 228.
It was a welcome return to form after a below-par few weeks which saw Ronaldo fail to register in his previous seven outings, including friendlies.
But as his partnership with fellow frontmen Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Isco looks increasingly promising, Ronaldo was a constant menace against a very disappointing Espanyol team which rolled over easily after falling two behind in the opening 20 minutes.
MARCA | Cristiano to his teammates in the dressing room: “These 5 goals are for you”. pic.twitter.com/MDIzjDuoss
— RMadridHome (@RMadridHome) September 13, 2015
The sensational display also took Ronaldo to fourth place on La Liga’s scoring charts, moving past another Madrid legend, Alfredo Di Stefano, to leave himself behind just Hugo Sanchez (234), Telmo Zarra (251) and Lionel Messi (287).
Notably, however, Ronaldo has registered his goals at a much faster rate than any of those players, scoring an average of 1.13 per game whereas previous Los Blancos league leader Raul needed 550 games to score his 228 goals – an average of just 0.41 per game.
Ronaldo’s next target is overhauling Raul as the leading scorer in all competitions, with just five goals separating the two Bernabeu number sevens – the Spanish legend managed 323 strikes for the club, with his successor now on 318.
Although Ronaldo maintained his long-held policy of avoiding the media and therefore did not share his views on taking his club’s top league goalscoring spot, his teammates were happy to wax lyrical about his achievement.
International colleague Pepe said there was nothing Espanyol could have done to avoid the onslaught, shrugging: “When Cristiano has a day like this, it’s impossible for the opposition to stop him.
“You have to congratulate him because he had a great game. He is incredible and deserves all the plaudits.”
Goalkeeper Keylor Navas – who kept his third consecutive clean sheet, was also effusive about the abilities of his team-mate, saying: “We all know that Cristiano is the best player in the world. He is a remarkable player and we are delighted to have him on our team.”
And Luka Modric, who delivered a midfield masterclass in the first half as his team powered into a 4-0 interval lead, insisted nobody within the Madrid camp was at all worried by Ronaldo’s previous failure to score this season.
“Cristiano scoring five didn’t surprise us because we all know what he can do,” said the Croatian. “It was just a question of time until he scored.”
But despite his team’s thumping victory – their second successive goalfest following a 5-0 win over Real Betis before the international break – coach Rafael Benitez wants more.
“We can still improve,” he said. “I say that without vanity but with objectivity. There are always things you can do better.”
And he believes his team’s goalscoring feats in the last two games have been the consequence of the greater positional flexibility he has given to his forward line.
“The forwards have freedom in their movement, and they have used it intelligently,” he said. “That was the key and we were able to take full advantage.”
