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The Portuguese icon broke his Saudi Pro League major trophy curse with a victory last weekend against Damac, which secured the 2025/26 Saudi top-flight trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a brace in the 4-1 win, with Sadio Mane and Kingsley Coman responsible for Al-Nassr’s two preceding strikes.
The 41-year-old suffered defeat in the AFC Champions League Final the week prior, losing 1-0 to Japanese side Gamba Osaka.
How many goals away from 1000 is Cristiano Ronaldo?
With his brace against Damac, Cristiano Ronaldo put himself just 27 strikes away from 1000 officially-recognised goals, meaning we could see him make history next season.
Ronaldo sits at 973 recorded goals, having scored 30 this season for Al-Nassr en route to an elusive Saudi Pro League title.
The 41-year-old bagged 28 in 30 games in the Saudi Pro League which, if equalled next year, would see him hit 1000 strikes in 2026/27.
Before that, the Portuguese icon will take to the World Cup stage aiming to improve his international goal record, and bag the knock-out strike that has continually eluded him.
Ronaldo has recorded 143 goals for Portugal, alongside 46 assists, in 226 games, but not a single strike has arrived in the World Cup knock-out stages.
In that tournament, Ronaldo has eight goals and two assists in 22 games, including a memorable hat-trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup.
The 41-year-old’s international team-mate, Bruno Fernandes, is in the creative form of his life, recently breaking the Premier League single season record with 21 assists.
After a hamstring injury in early March, the Portuguese maestro returned to score seven goals in eight games, also registering an assist, as Al-Nassr marched to the title.
Comparatively, in the build-up to the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo scored just one goal in 10 matches prior to the tournament after repeated bust-ups and benchings under Erik Ten Hag.
Ronaldo is eight goals removed from becoming the World Cup’s all-time highest scorer, making it highly unlikely that he can top the charts after the 2026 tournament, however, bagging just three would see him enter the Top 10.
If the 41-year-old could hit five, with Lionel Messi failing to score during the tournament, he would join his Argentine rival in joint fourth on the World Cup goalscoring charts.
Ronaldo, standing tall with 973 goals, will face DR Congo on June 17, in Portugal’s first match of the World Cup 2026.
