Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro,
[2] OIH, (born 5 February 1985),
[3] commonly known as
Cristiano Ronaldo, is a
Portuguese footballer who plays as a
winger or
striker for Spanish
La Liga club
Real Madrid and is the captain of the
Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive player in football history after moving from
Manchester United to
Real Madrid in a
transfer deal worth £80 million (€94 million). In addition, his contract with
Real Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per year, makes him one of the highest-paid football players in the world,
[4] and his buyout clause is valued at €1000 million (€1 billion, in English usage), as per his contract.
[5]
Ronaldo became the highest goalscorer in a season in the history of Real Madrid with 53 goals, surpassing the club's previous high of 49 by
Ferenc Puskás. Six days later, Ronaldo broke the record of most goals ever scored in a season in
La Liga with 40, surpassing
Telmo Zarra's mark established in 1951 (38 goals) and
Hugo Sánchez's mark established in 1990 (38 goals). Ronaldo also broke
Zarra's record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every 70.7 minutes. The newspaper
Marca, the official deliverer of the
Pichichi Trophy (the top
La Liga goalscorer award), claimed that Ronaldo scored 41 goals (
Marca assigned one more goal to Ronaldo than
La Liga, which attributed it to
Pepe).
He is described as a skillful winger who will take on any defender with his dribbling and pace; and who possesses a powerful, accurate free-kick and crossing ability. Ronaldo is able to score with his head and feet but also has been criticized for going to ground too easily.
[12]
Early life
Ronaldo was born in
Santo António, a neighbourhood of
Funchal,
Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener.
[13] His second
given name "Ronaldo" was chosen after then-
U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor.
[14] He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.
[3] His great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from
Cape Verde.
[15]
Club career
Early career
At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur team
Andorinha, where his father was the
kit man. In 1995, Ronaldo signed with local club
Nacional, and, after a title-winning campaign, he went on a three-day trial with
Sporting CP, who subsequently signed him for an undisclosed sum.
[16]
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the
Academia Sporting, the club's football academy, in
Alcochete. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season.
[17] He scored two goals in his league debut on 7 October 2002, which Sporting CP won 3–0 against
Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the
2002 European Under-17 Championship.
[18]
At the age of 15 Ronaldo was diagnosed with a
racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital. While there, he had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.
[19]
In November 2002, Ronaldo was invited to
Arsenal's training ground,
London Colney to meet manager
Arsène Wenger and his coaching staff.
[20] Wenger, who was interested in signing the midfielder had arranged to meet Ronaldo's representatives, Formation (who suggested the player originally to
Gérard Houllier, then Liverpool's manager) in the subsequent months to discuss a transfer arrangement.
[21] However he came to the attention of
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the inauguration of the
Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. Ronaldo's performance impressed the Manchester United players, who urged Ferguson to sign him.
[22]
Manchester United
2003–2006
Ronaldo became
Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million
[23] (£12.24 million) after the
2002–03 season.
[24] He requested the number 28 (his number at Sporting), as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by players such as
George Best,
Bryan Robson,
Eric Cantona, and
David Beckham. "After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."
[25]
Ronaldo made his team debut as a 60th-minute substitute in a 4–0 home victory over
Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3–0 win over
Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. Ronaldo ended his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0
FA Cup final victory over
Millwall.
[26]
He scored United's 1000th Premier League goal on 29 October 2005 in a 4–1 loss to
Middlesbrough.
[27] He scored ten goals in all competitions, and fans voted him to his first
FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award in 2005.
He was sent off in the
Manchester derby at the
City of Manchester Stadium on 14 January 2006 (a game which United lost 3–1) for kicking City's former United player
Andrew Cole.
[28]
Ronaldo won his second trophy in English football in the
2005–06 season, scoring the third goal in Manchester United's 4–0
Football League Cup final victory over
Wigan Athletic.
[29]
2006–2009
Ronaldo with United during their 2006–2007 season.
The
2006–2007 season proved to be the breakout year for Ronaldo, as he broke the 20 goal barrier for the first time and picked up his first
league title with Manchester United.
In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive
Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so after
Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and
Robbie Fowler in 1996.
[30][31] He scored his 50th Manchester United goal against city rivals
Manchester City on 5 May 2007 as United claimed their first Premier League title in four years, and he was voted into his second consecutive FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award at the end of the year.
Despite rumours circulating in March 2007 that
Real Madrid were willing to pay an unprecedented €80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo,
[32] he signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week (£31 million total) extension with United on 13 April, making him the highest-paid player in team history.
[33][34]
Ronaldo's
2007–08 season began with a
red card for a headbutt on
Portsmouth player
Richard Hughes during United's second match of the season, for which he was punished with a three-match ban.
[36] Ronaldo said he had "learned a lot" from the experience and would not let players "provoke" him in the future.
[37] After scoring the only goal in a Champions League away match against Sporting, Ronaldo also scored the injury-time winner in the return fixture as Manchester United topped their Champions League group.
[38]
Ronaldo scored his first
hat trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against
Newcastle United at
Old Trafford on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League table.
[41] He scored his twenty-third league goal of the season in a 2–0 win against
Reading, equalling his entire total for the 2006–07 season.
[42] During a 1–1 Champions League first knockout round draw against
Lyon on 20 February, an unidentified Lyon supporter continuously aimed a green laser at Ronaldo and United teammate
Nani, prompting an investigation by UEFA.
[43] One month later, Lyon were fined
CHF5,000 (£2,427) for the incident.
[44]
On 19 March 2008, Ronaldo captained United for the first time in his career in a home win over Bolton, scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory.
[45] The second of the goals was his 33rd of the campaign, which set a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best's forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967–68 season.
[46] Ronaldo scored another brace in a 4–0 win over
Aston Villa on 29 March, which at the time gave him 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches as both a starter and substitute. Ronaldo's scoring streak was rewarded with his becoming the first winger to win the 2007–08
European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of
Mallorca's
Dani Güiza.
[47]
In the
2007–08 Champions League final on 21 May against league rivals
Chelsea, Ronaldo scored the opening goal after 26 minutes, which was negated by a Chelsea equaliser in the 45th minute as the match ended 1–1 after extra time. His misfire in the penalty shoot-out put Chelsea in position to win the trophy, but
John Terry shot wide right after slipping on the pitch surface, and Manchester United emerged victorious 6–5 on penalties. Ronaldo was named the UEFA Fans' Man of the Match,
[48] and wrapped up the campaign with a career-high 42 goals in all competitions, falling four short of
Denis Law's team-record mark of 46 in the 1963–64 season.
On 5 June 2008,
Sky Sports reported that Ronaldo had expressed an interest in moving to Real Madrid if they offered him the same amount of money the team had allegedly promised him earlier in the year.
[49] Manchester United filed a tampering complaint with
FIFA on 9 June over Madrid's alleged pursuit of Ronaldo, but FIFA declined to take any action.
[50][51] Speculation that a transfer would happen continued until 6 August, when Ronaldo confirmed that he would stay at United for at least another year.
[52]
In a 5–0 win over
Stoke City on 15 November 2008, Ronaldo scored his 100th and 101st goals in all competitions for Manchester United, both from free kicks.
[55] The goals also meant that Ronaldo had now scored against each of the other 19 teams in the Premier League at the time.
[56] On 2 December, Ronaldo became Manchester United's first
Ballon d'Or recipient since
George Best in
1968. He finished with 446 points, 165 ahead of runner-up
Lionel Messi.
[57] He was awarded the Silver Ball after finishing with two goals as United won the
Club World Cup on 19 December.
[58]
Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal of the season, and first since the final against Chelsea, in a 2–0 victory over
Internazionale that sent United into the quarter-finals.
[61] In the second leg against
Porto, Ronaldo scored a 40-yard game-winning goal as United advanced to the semi-finals. He later called it the best goal he had ever scored.
[62][63] Ronaldo participated in his second consecutive
Champions League final, but made little impact in United's 2–0 loss to Barcelona. He finished with 53 appearances in all competitions, which was four higher than the previous year, but scored sixteen fewer goals (26) than his career-best total of 42 from the previous season.
On 11 June, Manchester United accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had expressed his desire to leave the club.
[64] It was confirmed by a representative of the Glazer family that the sale was fully condoned by Ferguson.
[65]
When Ronaldo had eventually completed his transfer to Real, he expressed his gratitude towards Ferguson for helping him develop as a player, saying,
"He's been my father in sport, one of the most important factors and most influential in my career."[66]
Real Madrid
2009–10 season
On 26 June 2009,
Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million,
[67] after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract.
[68] Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year
[4] and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause.
[69] He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July,
[70] where he was handed the number 9 jersey.
[71] The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend
Alfredo Di Stéfano.
[72] Ronaldo was welcomed by 80,000 fans at his presentation at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, surpassing
Diego Maradona's record of 75,000 fans when he was presented in Italy, after he was transferred from
Barcelona to
Napoli in 1984.
[73]
Ronaldo made his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1–0 win over
Shamrock Rovers. His first goal came one week later with a penalty in Madrid's 4–2 win over
LDU Quito.
[74] On 29 August, Ronaldo capped his
La Liga debut with a goal, scoring Real's second from the penalty spot in a 3–2 home win against
Deportivo La Coruña.
[75] On 15 September, Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5–2 away victory over
Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real.
[76] He broke a Madrid club record when he scored in a league match against
Villarreal and thus became the first ever player to score in his first four La Liga appearances.
[77]
An ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while Ronaldo was on international duty with
Portugal against
Hungary,
[78] kept him out until 25 November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions League group stage matches against
Milan. Ronaldo made his first post-injury start in a 1–0
El Clásico defeat to
Barcelona on 29 November. On 6 December, he was sent off for the first time in his Madrid career in Madrid's 4–2 victory against
Almería, a match which also saw him miss a penalty.
He was carded first for removing his shirt during a goal celebration, then for kicking out at an opponent three minutes later.
[79] On 5 May 2010 Ronaldo scored his first Real Madrid
hat-trick in an away game against
Mallorca. Ronaldo and
Gonzalo Higuaín scored 53 league goals during the course of the season and became Real's highest scoring league duo in their history.
[80]
2010–11 season
With the departure of
Raúl during the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed the No. 7 jersey for Real Madrid.
[81] On 23 October 2010, Ronaldo scored four goals against
Racing de Santander,
[82] the most goals he has ever scored in a single match.
[83] This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches (three in La Liga, one in the Champions League, and two for
Portugal) in which Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Ronaldo has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid's 5–0 defeat by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Ronaldo scored his second La Liga hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over
Athletic Bilbao.
[84] His final match of the calendar year saw him score a hat-trick in a 8–0 trashing of
Levante in the
Copa del Rey.
[85]
Ronaldo began the 2011 with a very promising outlook, especially after Real Madrid acknowledged he had broken numerous goalscoring records, previously settled and held by classic players such as
Alfredo Di Stéfano,
Hugo Sánchez, and
Manuel Alday.
[86][87] Ronaldo began his scoring spree by scoring two vital goals in a tight 3–2 victory away to
Getafe.
[88] He then consolidated his massive performances by scoring a hat-trick and assisting
Kaká to score his first league goal after his return from injury, in a 4–2 victory over
Villarreal on 9 January. One game away from the middle of the season, Ronaldo had a very clear chance of breaking
Telmo Zarra's and
Hugo Sánchez's record of 38 League goals in a single season, since he was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, above
Lionel Messi.
[89][90]
However, shortly after, Ronaldo experienced the biggest goal drought in his entire career, scoring only 2 goals in more than a month. During this period, Real Madrid acknowledged to have hit the crossbar more than 12 times in the season, most of the shots belonging to Ronaldo and almost all having happened during crucial moments in drawn matches.
[91] Ronaldo then made a massive comeback by scoring a hat-trick in a 7–0 trashing of
Málaga on 3 March 2011, but was affected by a muscle injury at the end of the match, which forced him to spend 10 days on the sidelines.
In April he made another massive comeback from injury, sustaining a three-game scoring streak (including 2 goals in
Champions League quarter-finals against
Tottenham Hotspur), thus arriving to the first of a historical series of four
El Clásico encounters two goals short of breaking his personal record of 42 goals in all competitions in a single season, achieved at
Manchester United in the 2007–08 season.
During the second league edition of El Clásico, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot and took his tally to 41 goals, also taking his scoring streak to four games. On 20 April, Ronaldo scored the winning goal against
Barcelona in the 103rd minute of the
Copa del Rey final.
[92] This goal would later be chosen as both Ronaldo's and Real Madrid's best goal in the season by several fan polls, including those of Marca
[93] and Real Madrid's website.
[94] 7 May saw Real travel to the
Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to take on Sevilla, where Ronaldo led the thrashing of a woeful Andalusian side, scoring four goals in a 6–2 victory. These four goals took him to 46 for the season which surpassed his previous record of 42 in a season playing for Manchester United.
[95] Three days later he reached 49 goals for the season, by scoring another hat-trick in a 4–0 home win against
Getafe.
On 15 May, after scoring two free-kick goals in a 3–1 win over
Villarreal, he equalled the
La Liga record with most goals in a season with 38, a record previously held by
Telmo Zarra and
Hugo Sánchez.
On 21 May, he scored two goals in the last league match of the season against Almería, taking his Pichichi total to 41, and La Liga total to 40, becoming the first and only player to score 40 goals in a La Liga season. By doing this, he won the
European Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different leagues. The sports newspaper
Marca, who awards the Pichichi Trophy, included the goal scored on 18 September 2010 to Real Sociedad in Ronaldo's goal count, which officially attributed to
Pepe.
[96] Should this goal be granted to Ronaldo, his goal count in the Pichichi Trophy would tally 41 goals.
However, careless of this goal polemic, Ronaldo's record-breaking figures became a source of major attention from public media, something that granted Ronaldo awards like Sports Illustrated XI,
[97] rating him as one of the world's best footballers. Accounting for all competitions, Ronaldo ended the season with a total of 53 goals (not granting him the controversy goal from
Pepe), having scored 25 goals with his right foot (excluding free-kicks and penalty-kicks) and 9 with his left foot.
[98]
2011–12 season
Real Madrid's pre-season began with a 4–1 victory over
MLS team
Los Angeles Galaxy,
[99] with goals from
Callejón,
Joselu, Ronaldo, and
Benzema.
[100] Four days later Ronaldo scored a second half
hat-trick in a 3–0 win against
Guadalajara. Ronaldo's preseason performance was highly praised as world media kept hailing Ronaldo's extreme competitiveness and motivation, even during friendly matches. On August 17, 2011, Ronaldo scored his 100th goal with Real Madrid with a first-half equalizer against
Barcelona in the second leg of the 2011
Spanish Supercup in the
Camp Nou. On August 27, 2011, he opened the
2011–12 La Liga season with a hat-trick in a 6–0 win at
Real Zaragoza.
In the first weeks of September, Ronaldo's physical performance was subject to scrutiny by world media, after
Castrol released a
television film named "Ronaldo: Tested to the Limit" where he was put to test in several fields, including mental and physical. Conclusions from the movie and doctors on the weeks following claimed that Ronaldo was one of the best athletes in the world, excelling in football and outstanding in almost every other category.
Several sources drew comparisons between him and other top athletes, including sprinter
Usain Bolt. On September 24 Ronaldo scored a hat-trick (including two penalties) in Real Madrid's 6–2 drubbing of
Rayo Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu. This was his ninth
La Liga hat-trick and tenth hat-trick for Real Madrid.
On September 27 Ronaldo scored Real's opening goal in a 3–0 defeat of
Ajax in the Champions League. On 22 October, after not scoring in his previous three games, Ronaldo scored his tenth La Liga hat-trick and eleventh in total for Real Madrid in a match away to
Málaga, which Real Madrid won 4–0. His twelfth Real Madrid hat-trick followed on 6 November, in a 7–1 victory over
Osasuna that ensured Madrid stayed top of the table heading into the international break.
[101] On 19 November 2011, Ronaldo scored Real's second goal in a 2–3 defeat of
Valencia.
On November 26, 2011, Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1 defeat of
Atlético Madrid in the
El Derbi madrileño. On 3 December 2011, Ronaldo scored Madrid's second goal in a 0–3 defeat of
Sporting de Gijón in
La Liga. He was one of the three finalists for the
2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or. On December 13, 2011, Ronaldo scored the second goal against
SD Ponferradina in the first leg of the
Copa del Rey Round 4, the match ended in a 0–2 win. On December 17, 2011, Ronaldo scored his twelfth
La Liga hat-trick and thirteenth overall in a 6–2 win away to
Sevilla. Ronaldo was third in the 2010–11
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, behind
Lionel Messi and
Xavi Hernández, and second in the
2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or, behind
Lionel Messi and ahead of
Xavi Hernández.
In Real Madrid's next game in La Liga at home to
Granada Ronaldo scored the fifth goal in a 5–1 win. He was notably criticized in the public media for not celebrating the goal. On 22 January Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1 win over
Athletic Bilbao, and on 28 January scored Real Madrid's second and winning goal in a 3–1 win against
Zaragoza. Ronaldo also scored two goals against
Barcelona in the
Copa del Rey Quarter-finals, which Real lost 4–3 on aggregrate. On 12 February 2012 Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, his thirteenth in La Liga and fourteenth for Real Madrid, in a 4–2 home win over Levante, including a beautiful long range effort. This win stretched Real Madrid's lead over second-placed Barcelona to 10 points.
International career
Ronaldo playing against
Brazil
Ronaldo earned his first cap for Portugal in a 1–0 victory against
Kazakhstan on 20 August 2003.
[102]
Euro 2004
2006 World Cup
During a
quarter-final match against
England on 1 July 2006, Ronaldo's United teammate
Wayne Rooney was
sent off for stamping on Portugal defender
Ricardo Carvalho. The English media speculated that Ronaldo had influenced referee
Horacio Elizondo's decision by aggressively complaining, after which he was seen in replays winking at the Portuguese bench following Rooney's dismissal. After the match, Ronaldo insisted that Rooney was a friend and that he was not pushing for Rooney to be sent off.
[110] On 4 July, Elizondo clarified that the red card was due to Rooney's infraction and not the fracas between Rooney and Ronaldo that followed.
[111]
The angry reaction from the English press caused Ronaldo to consider leaving United,
[112] and he allegedly told Spanish sports daily
Marca that he wished to move to
Real Madrid.
[113] In response to the speculation, Ferguson sent Portuguese assistant manager
Carlos Queiroz to speak to Ronaldo in attempt to change his mind, a sentiment that was shared by Rooney.
[114][115] Ronaldo stayed, and signed his new five-year extension in April 2007.
[116]
Ronaldo was booed during Portugal's semi-final defeat to
France,
[117] and missed out on the competition's Best Young Player award due to a negative e-mail campaign from England fans.
[118] Though the online vote only affected the nomination process, FIFA's Technical Study Group awarded the honour to
Germany's
Lukas Podolski, citing Ronaldo's behaviour as a factor in the decision.
[119]
Post-World Cup
One day after his 22nd birthday, Ronaldo captained Portugal for the first time in a friendly against
Brazil on 6 February 2007.
[120] This move was in honour of
Portuguese Football Federation president Carlos Silva, who had died two days earlier. Portugal coach
Luiz Felipe Scolari explained,
"Mr. Silva asked me to make [Ronaldo] captain as a gesture... [he] is too young to be captain, but Mr. Silva asked me, and now he is no longer with us."[121]
Euro 2008
2010 World Cup
On 15 June 2010, in Portugal's opening
World Cup match against
Côte d'Ivoire, Ronaldo was tackled by right-back
Guy Demel, which led to an argument and both being booked. The next day, Portugal contacted FIFA to suggest that Ronaldo's yellow card be rescinded since he was "pulled into" the confrontation after having already moved away from the spot where he was tackled, but the appeal was rejected.
[126]
Ronaldo failed to make an impact in the World Cup; after going scoreless in the qualifiers, his only goal came in Portugal's 7–0 group stage thrashing of
North Korea on 21 June,
[127] which marked his first international goal in 16 months.
[128] Portugal were ultimately eliminated by
Spain in the Round of 16.
International goals
Cristiano Ronaldo: International goals
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|
| 1 | 12 June 2004 | Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal |  Greece | 1–2 | 1–2 | Euro 2004 |
| 2 | 30 June 2004 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal |  Netherlands | 2–0 | 2–1 | Euro 2004 |
| 3 | 4 September 2004 | Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia |  Latvia | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 4 | 8 September 2004 | Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria, Portugal |  Estonia | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 5 | 13 October 2004 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal |  Russia | 2–0 | 7–1 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 6 | 13 October 2004 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal | Russia | 4–0 | 7–1 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 7 | 17 November 2004 | Stade Josy Barthel, Luxemburg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 0–2 | 0–5 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 8 | 4 June 2005 | Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal |  Slovakia | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 9 | 8 June 2005 | A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia | Estonia | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2006 World Cup Qualification |
| 10 | 1 March 2006 | LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany |  Saudi Arabia | 0–1 | 0–3 | Friendly |
| 11 | 1 March 2006 | LTU Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany | Saudi Arabia | 0–3 | 0–3 | Friendly |
| 12 | 17 June 2006 | Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany |  Iran | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2006 World Cup |
| 13 | 7 October 2006 | Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal |  Azerbaijan | 1–0 | 3–0 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 14 | 7 October 2006 | Estádio do Bessa, Porto, Portugal | Azerbaijan | 3–0 | 3–0 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 15 | 15 November 2006 | Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal |  Kazakhstan | 2–0 | 3–0 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 16 | 24 March 2007 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal |  Belgium | 2–0 | 4–0 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 17 | 24 March 2007 | Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal | Belgium | 4–0 | 4–0 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 18 | 22 August 2007 | Hanrapetakan Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia |  Armenia | 1–1 | 1–1 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 19 | 8 September 2007 | Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal |  Poland | 2–1 | 2–2 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 20 | 17 October 2007 | Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan | 0–2 | 1–2 | Euro 2008 Qualification |
| 21 | 11 June 2008 | Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland |  Czech Republic | 1–2 | 1–3 | Euro 2008 |
| 22 | 11 February 2009 | Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal |  Finland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 23 | 21 June 2010 | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa |  North Korea | 6–0 | 7–0 | 2010 World Cup |
| 24 | 8 October 2010 | Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal |  Denmark | 3–1 | 3–1 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 25 | 12 October 2010 | Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland |  Iceland | 0–1 | 1–3 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 26 | 9 February 2011 | Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland |  Argentina | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 27 | 10 August 2011 | Estádio Algarve, Faro, Portugal | Luxembourg | 2–0 | 5–0 | Friendly |
| 28 | 2 September 2011 | GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus |  Cyprus | 0–1 | 0–4 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 29 | 2 September 2011 | GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus | Cyprus | 0–2 | 0–4 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 30 | 11 October 2011 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 2–1 | 2–1 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 31 | 15 November 2011 | Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1–0 | 6–2 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
| 32 | 15 November 2011 | Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3–1 | 6–2 | Euro 2012 Qualification |
Personal life
Ronaldo's father, José Dinis Aveiro, died of an alcoholism-related liver condition in September 2005
[129] at age 52 when Ronaldo was 20. Ronaldo's mother and Manchester United coach have stated that he does not drink alcohol as a result and he has received
libel damages over a
Daily Mirror article that reported him drinking heavily in a nightclub while recovering from an injury in July 2008.
[130]
Ronaldo's autobiography, titled
Moments, was published in December 2007.
[131] Along with one of his sisters, Ronaldo opened a fashion boutique under the name "CR7" (his initials and shirt number).
[132] There are currently two CR7 shop locations, both of which are in Portugal; one in
Lisbon and the other in
Madeira.
On 9 June 2010,
Madame Tussauds London unveiled Ronaldo's waxwork as part of the build-up to the World Cup. Ronaldo joined fellow footballers
Steven Gerrard,
Pelé and
David Beckham at the event's venue.
[133]
Ronaldo announced that he had become a father on 3 July 2010. His official Facebook and Twitter pages reference the birth of his son and request privacy.
[134] The child, named Cristiano
[135] is in full custody of Ronaldo.
[134]
In August 2010, Ronaldo reached 10 million fans on Facebook and in doing so made history by becoming the first non-American personality ever to achieve that kind of success on the social networking site.
[136]
Ronaldo has previously dated English models
Alice Goodwin[137] and
Gemma Atkinson, and since the start of 2010, he has been dating
Russian model
Irina Shayk.
[138]
On December 5, 2011, Cristiano launched an
iPhone game called Heads Up with Cristiano. The game is created by developer
RockLive.
Philanthropy
Television footage of the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami showed an eight-year-old boy wearing a No.7 Portuguese football jersey who was stranded for 19 days after his family was killed. Following this, Ronaldo visited
Aceh, Indonesia, to raise funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
[139][140]
In support of the victims of the
2010 Madeira flood, Ronaldo played in a charity match in Madeira between the
Primeira Liga club
FC Porto and players from Madeiran based clubs
Marítimo and
Nacional.
[141]
T-Team FC
Sarawak FA
