Cristiano Ronaldo scores 700th career goal

Cristiano Ronaldo added yet another layer to his legend on Monday.

The forward scored his 700th goal for club and country during Portugal’s Euro 2020 qualifying match against Ukraine. He becomes the sixth player to reach the milestone. In terms of all-time goal scorers, he trails Gerd Muller (701), Ferenc Puskas (709), Romario (748), Pele (779), and Josef Bican, whose tally of 805 between 1928 and 1955 is generally accepted as the most by a professional player in history.

The manner of the milestone was a bit anticlimactic—a simple penalty kick as opposed to any of those highlight-reel screamers he can pop out—but it was finished as comprehensively as ever, a high shot to the kicker’s right as the keeper guessed the opposite direction.

It was Ronaldo’s seventh goal of the qualifying campaign and his 95th for his country. Unfortunately for him and his teammates, it wasn’t enough to get Portugal out of an early 2-0 hole, and Ukraine held on for the 2-1 win even after going down to 10 men during the penalty incident. The result qualified Ukraine for the tournament, while it left Portugal with some work to do. They lead Serbia by a point for the second direct qualifying spot, and while their schedule is favorable—home to Lithuania and away to Luxembourg—any slip-up could allow the Serbs to jump them and send the defending champions scrambling to qualify through the third-place playoffs. For the record, Ronaldo scored five goals total in Portugal’s first games against their remaining opponents, including four against Lithuania last month.

With Portugal’s international slate over, Ronaldo will soon return to Turin and look to equal or pass Muller in Juve’s Saturday contest with Bologna.