Malmo, Sweden: Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez lauded the historic feats of Cristiano Ronaldo after he netted his 500th career and goal and levelled Raul as the club’s all-time leading scorer with a double against Malmo on Wednesday.
The three-time World Player of the Year has now scored 501 goals in 753 career games, including 323 for Madrid — matching Raul’s tally despite playing more than 400 games fewer for the Spanish giants.
According to club records, though, Ronaldo is already Madrid’s top scorer of all-time as they add a goal officially awarded by the Spanish league to Pepe in a 2-1 defeat of Real Sociedad in 2010.
“He has surpassed Raul, who was a phenomenon, and that shows that he has scored a lot of goals,” said Benitez.
“Hopefully, he has no limits. I said he was unquestionable in the past and his merit is what he has done in far less time than the rest. That adds more value to what he has achieved.”
Ronaldo’s return to goalscoring form was a relief for the Portuguese and Benitez after a frustrating 0-0 draw at home to Malaga on Saturday, in which Ronaldo had 14 attempts on goal.
Madrid were far from their best in Sweden as Benitez took the chance to rotate his squad ahead of Sunday’s Madrid derby away to Atletico.
Ronaldo opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark with a cool finish, but the visitors had to wait until the final minute to secure the three points when Ronaldo prodded home Lucas Vazquez’s cross.
However, Benitez was pleased to get the three points, which allowed Madrid to join Paris Saint-Germain atop Group A with maximum points from two games.
“The team was a lot better than against Malaga. We had 75 per cent possession. We could have avoided some occasions where we gave the ball away, but those are the words of a coach that will never be happy,” said Benitez.
“They started to press high and sent a lot of long balls. Anything could have happened, so it was important to get the second goal.”
“It says something about how good he is,” said Malmo defender Anton Tinnerholm, who had most of the responsibility for marking Ronaldo. “Even when he has a bad day, he can still decide games.”
It could have been more when the Malmo defence, reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Yoshimar Yotun, tired.
But Malmo goalkeeper Johan Wiland stood firm, prompting Ronaldo to have a word with him after the final whistle.
“He came up to me after the game and asked ‘why did you keep saving my shots?’. He wanted to score a hat-trick,” Wiland told reporters.
“In reply, I asked him why he kept scoring goals against me. Then we laughed and hugged.”
Wiland is not the first goalkeeper to have asked Ronaldo that question, and he most likely won’t be the last.
— AFP
