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    Home»Sports»Ronaldo's most iconic moments as he retires from international football
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    Ronaldo's most iconic moments as he retires from international football

    soreceryBy soreceryNovember 5, 2026No Comments7 Mins Read
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    Cristiano Ronaldo says his international career with Portugal is over, meaning the 41-year-old will just play on with Al-Nassr.

    The main thing driving him on now is hoping to reach an unprecedented 1,000 career goals – he is currently on 985.

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    BBC Sport looks at some of the most iconic moments of a career that has also taken in spells at Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

    • Ronaldo retires from Portugal duty

    • Ronaldo spurred on by 1,000 goals and Portugal glory

    • Ronaldo will not retire until he scores 1,000 goals

    • Untouchable or a support act? Ronaldo’s 1,000-goal quest continues

    After 31 first-team games and five goals for Sporting, Ronaldo caught the eye of Manchester United in a pre-season friendly in 2003, setting up two goals in a 3-1 win in Lisbon.

    Ronaldo revealed that United boss Alex Ferguson took him into the dressing room afterwards to meet the players.

    Five days later he joined the Red Devils for £12m.

    “After we played Sporting the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him – that’s how highly they rated him,” said Ferguson.

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    “He is one of the most exciting young players I’ve ever seen.”

    Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating the 2007 Premier League title
    Cristiano Ronaldo has won league titles in England, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo won the FA Cup in his first season at United, scoring in the final against Millwall.

    But it was in 2006-07 that his career really exploded. He hit 17 Premier League goals, his first season of double figures, was named player of the year and young player of the year – and won his first league title.

    The following season was even better, winning his first Champions League – scoring in the final – his first European Golden Shoe for top scorer, and another league title.

    Ronaldo scored 118 goals in 292 games in his first spell at United, and one was ranked above all the others.

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    He hit an absolute rocket of a shot into the top corner from 40 yards in his homeland against Porto, a goal which took them into the Champions League semi-finals.

    It won the inaugural Fifa Puskas award for goal of the year.

    Months later, Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for £80m.

    Cristiano Ronaldo with 2011 Copa del Rey
    Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to win their first Copa del Rey in seven years [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo’s first season at Real Madrid produced no trophies and his second saw just the Copa del Rey won.

    That final was especially notable because it is the first time Ronaldo had scored the winning goal in a final. And it was in El Clasico, one of four meetings in 18 days in all competitions.

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    He rose at the far post to power in a trademark header from Angel di Maria’s cross in extra time as Real beat Barcelona 1-0.

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 14 games against Levante [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo, then 30, scored in a 3-0 La Liga win over Levante in October 2015 to become the club’s all-time top scorer with his 324th goal in 310 games.

    The 2015-16 campaign would go on to be the sixth season in a row that Ronaldo scored 50 or more goals in all competitions.

    Ronaldo ended up extending that record by 126 goals – leaving Real with 450 goals in just 438 games.

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in European Championship history – with 14 goals – as well as lifting the trophy once [Getty Images]

    The one thing missing from Ronaldo’s CV was international success.

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    And that came in 2016 when Portugal won the European Championship by beating hosts France 1-0 in the final in Paris.

    Ronaldo ended up taking on an unofficial coaching role in that final after going off injured in tears midway through the first half.

    He was named in the team of the tournament after three goals and three assists. Ronaldo retires as the top scorer in Euros history, with 14 goals.

    Portugal are yet to win the World Cup.

    • Tearful Ronaldo becomes true great

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo has won five Ballons d’Or, only behind Lionel Messi [Getty Images]

    Cristiano Ronaldo won his fifth Ballon d’Or, equalling Lionel Messi’s record at the time, after winning the Champions League and La Liga in 2016-17. He netted twice in that European final over Juventus.

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    It followed on from the best player in the world awards in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.

    Sadly for Ronaldo, Messi would go on to win three more Ballons d’Or, meaning he won their personal rivalry 8-5.

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo scored one of his eight Champions League hat-tricks in the 2017 win over Bayern Munich [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo became the first player to score 100 Champions League goals with a hat-trick in the 2016-17 quarter-final second leg win over Bayern Munich.

    Only Messi and Robert Lewandowski have joined him to date in the century club.

    Ronaldo would go on to score 141 goals in 187 games (also a record) in Europe’s top competition. For six seasons in a row he was the tournament’s top scorer or joint top scorer.

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    Cristiano Ronaldo
    “That is one of the great goals you will see… I was going to say Champions League football, but, basically, football,” said Pat Nevin in BBC Radio 5 Live commentary [Getty Images]

    In 2018 came one of the most iconic moments of Ronaldo’s career, maybe the greatest Champions League goal ever scored.

    In the quarter-final, Ronaldo leapt into the air before acrobatically firing into the corner of the net with an incredible bicycle kick against Juventus.

    Even the Juve fans stood up to applaud the player who would join their club months later.

    It was nominated for the Puskas Award but he finished second to Mohamed Salah’s goal for Liverpool against Everton.

    • The night Juventus rose to applaud Ronaldo

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo was the first man to win five Champions Leagues, although he was not the last as Real Madrid kept winning it without him [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo won two La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey trophies at Real Madrid, but it was in Europe’s elite club competition where he became a true legend.

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    He had already won the Champions League in 2008 with United, and went on to win it four more times with Real.

    The first was in 2014 before a remarkable three times in a row in 2016, 2017 and 2018 (beating Liverpool in the Gareth Bale/Loris Karius final) to become the first player to win the Champions League five times.

    Since his departure, former Real team-mates Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal, Luka Modric and Nacho have gone on to win six.

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo had a penalty saved by Gavin Bazunu before netting twice to deny Ireland a famous win in Faro [Getty Images]

    Ali Daei scored 109 goals for Iran between 1993 and 2006 – and it was felt like maybe his world record for international goals in men’s football would never be broken.

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    But Ronaldo’s two late headers in a World Cup qualifying win over the Republic of Ireland in 2021 took him onto 111 goals.

    He kept adding to that total and finished on 146 goals in 234 caps – also a record for international appearances.

    Cristiano Ronaldo
    Cristiano Ronaldo was the first player in professional football to ever hit 900 official goals [Getty Images]

    Ronaldo continued to smash the goals in for Juventus, in his second spell at United and at Al-Nassr but failed to really replicate many truly magic moments of the past.

    However he did create some history in 2024 as he became the first player to score 900 top-level career goals as Portugal beat Croatia.

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    That number is now 985 – so he is only 15 off an unprecedented 1,000th goal.

    He has now hit five for Sporting, 450 for Real Madrid, 145 for Manchester United, 101 for Juventus, 138 for Al-Nassr and 146 for Portugal.

    He recently confirmed that he is aiming to hit the 1,000 mark.

    But old rival Messi is on 931 goals, the second highest scorer ever, so Ronaldo cannot afford to dawdle too much…

    • Untouchable or a support act? Ronaldo’s 1,000-goal quest continues

    • Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast

     

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    Ronaldo retires from Portugal duty

    By soreceryNovember 5, 2026

    Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo says he is retiring from international football. The 41-year-old forward has…

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    Ronaldo retires from Portugal duty

    By soreceryNovember 5, 2026

    Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo says he is retiring from international football. The…

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    Cristiano Ronaldo says his international career with Portugal is over, meaning the…

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