After becoming the first man to score 900 goals… can Cristiano Ronaldo reach 1,000? Mail Sport predicts how long it will take him to reach the milestone… and it could end in a fitting swansong

Most footballers would bite your hand off if you granted them 90 career goals, but for Cristiano Ronaldo, a record 900 goals simply isn’t enough.

Speaking to former teammate Rio Ferdinand just days before he scored the crucial goal against Croatia last week, the Portuguese icon said: ‘My challenge is to score 1,000 goals’.

Let’s not say the man has no ambition.

Since his 39th birthday in February, Ronaldo has scored 28 goals, including two in the last four days, proving that the former Real Madrid star has no plans to stop anytime soon.

But wanting and getting are two different things, even for the greatest footballer of all time. And reaching a four-figure sum could be an achievement beyond his capabilities.

Still, Mail Sport has delved into what Ronaldo needs to reach his next staggering milestone and where the last 99 goals should come from.

‘CR7’ may have lit up the international stage this past week, but if he were to become the mighty thousand, He will have to score a few for his club Al-Nassr.

Ronaldo left for Saudi Arabia in January 2023 and scored 62 goals in 68 games. However, his contract expires next summer.

Assuming he stays fit for the remainder of his time at the club, which the Portuguese is more than capable of doing, he could play 32 league games and up to 29 games in other competitions.

For example, if Al-Nassr play 15 (half) of these tournament matches, then Ronaldo hopes to play in 47 games before leaving in June.

If he maintains his current scoring pace at the Saudi club, he would have scored 43 more goals by then, although this could vary greatly due to possible injuries or a number of early exits from the cup competition.

That brings the icon to 944 by June next year. But what about Portugal?

The 39-year-old has scored 80 international goals since he turned 30, more than Brazilian top scorer Neymar scored in his entire international career.

The national team will play four Nations League games through next summer, with two more to come if they reach the final. And with Ronaldo scoring two in his last six, we can add a few more to that list.

If the icon remains at 946th place next summer, while potentially looking for a new club, he will need another 54th place to secure another place in the record books.

The forward may score 44 goals in the 2023-24 season, but he hasn’t managed to score more than 50 goals in a season since 2015-16. That means he’ll likely have to play until the 2026 World Cup to score a kilo of goals.

An emotional Ronaldo appeared to bid farewell to his national team after being knocked out of the 2024 European Championship by France on penalties. However, it would come as no surprise to anyone if he were to lead the team in Canada, Mexico or the United States in two years’ time.

The biggest sponsor of the most powerful football record is its Portuguese manager Roberto Martinez.

“I don’t think anyone can say Cristiano can’t do something,” he said. “It’s incredible what he does in football.

‘But for us the goal is collective. Cristiano can help, it’s not just about goals.

‘Assists are very important. If he can give 100 assists, I will be very happy.’

When the man himself was asked if he had made it to the World Cup after Thursday’s win over Croatia, he responded, as expected, with restraint.

“Portugal winning a Euro is the equivalent of winning a World Cup,” Ronaldo said. “I’ve already won two trophies for Portugal that I really wanted.”

Ronaldo added: ‘I’m not motivated by that. I’m motivated by enjoying football and records come naturally.

“I don’t chase records, they chase me.”

Even if Ronaldo makes it to the quadrennial spectacle, his path to 1,000 will likely depend on his choice of club after leaving Al-Nassr.

If he stays in a – to put it politely – slightly less competitive league, then the Portuguese legend may only have ten or twenty goals left to score come the summer of 2026. This could be too much for his ambition to withstand and the forward could, if necessary, limp towards four figures.

A return to a top European league or an unfortunate injury could leave Ronaldo needing dozens of goals to reach his goal by the time he turns 41.

You can also look at it by keeping track of how many days it took him to score each run of 100 goals.

Ronaldo had to wait around five and a half years for his 100th goal – a calm penalty against Tottenham in January 2008 – but it took just 17 months for the then Real Madrid player to go from 200 to 300.

His last century? Some 1,008 days passed before the Portuguese star could celebrate his 900th birthday.

His fastest hundred would see him reach the 1,000 metres on February 5, 2026, his 41st birthday, but he achieved this at his peak and even Ronaldo would admit it would be difficult to match this level.

At the other end of the scale, if he were to match the speed of his most recent jump, he would earn around £1,000 on 9 June 2027. But to complicate matters further, his path to £900 was somewhat hampered by a frustrating return to Man United, where he was ultimately ousted by Erik Ten Hag.

The reality? It all depends on injuries and transfers, but one thing you can’t blame: a lack of hunger – something many footballers suffer from when they reach the final phase of their careers.

Go fastest: He’s on four figures at 41. His most recent: 42 and a half. And if he maintains his current form, it’ll be somewhere in between.

Now that the footballer is increasingly focusing on his life off the pitch, including launching a YouTube channel that now has 59 million subscribers, a departure from the sport he has devoted his heart to for 22 years seems inevitable.

Wouldn’t it be typical if a greying Ronaldo headed in the winning header at the next World Cup, reaching the all-important milestone of all time?