Al Nassr striker, Cristiano Ronaldo has assured he will “try and do it again” after he sealed his place as the top scorer of 2023 with another goal on Saturday.
Ronaldo nicked his 54th goal of this year as they defeated Al Taawoun 4-1 in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday.
The former Manchester United forward scored all his 54 goals for club and country in 59 fixtures.
Ronaldo now has more goals in this calendar year than Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé (52) as well as Manchester City star Erling Haaland (50).
None of the leading contenders will play again in 2023.
This is the fifth time Ronaldo will end the year as the world’s top scorer.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner achieved similar feat in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 when at Real Madrid.
“It was a good year for me,” he said on EuroFoot.
Cristiano Ronaldo added, “I scored many goals and helped the team a lot (at Al Nassr and the national team), so I’m really proud. Next year, I’ll try to do it again.”
Early on this month, the Portuguese hit a significant milestone after playing his 1,200th professional match of his career, He scored one goal and assisted another during the game in the colours of Al-Nassr.
The 38-year-old tapped in Sadio Mane’s cross and later set up team-mate Otavio in a 4-1 win over Al-Riyadh.
Ronaldo thanked all those who have helped him reach the landmark – but added that he was “not done yet”.
Ronaldo also marked his 1,000th senior appearance with a goal in February 2020, scoring for Juventus in Serie A.
In June, he became the first men’s player to make 200 international appearances when he featured for Portugal against Iceland, and he is also the top international goal scorer with 128 goals.
Among his club career appearance records, Ronaldo tops the list for all-time appearances in the Champions League (183), in which he represented Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
He also became the first player in history to score 800 top-level career goals when he surpassed that total playing for Manchester United in December 2021 and has since breached the 850-goal mark.
