Who have been Cristiano Ronaldo's favourite opponents?
Friday, December 30, 2022
Article summary
Which teams and nations have brought the best out of the all-time top scorer in UEFA's club competitions?
Article top media content
Article body
Cristiano Ronaldo seems to enjoy scoring against any side, but do some teams have more to fear from him than others?
• With 145 goals in 16,936 minutes of UEFA club competition football, Cristiano Ronaldo scores at an average rate of a goal every 116 minutes and 48 seconds.
• Ronaldo has played against 59 teams in UEFA club competition, scoring against 41.
• Ronaldo has notched more UEFA club competition goals (ten) against Juventus, the club he represented from 2018 to 2021, than against any other side.
• After he finally broke his European duck against Barcelona in December 2020, Benfica are now the team that have gone the longest without conceding against Ronaldo (337 minutes).
• The opponent he has found it easiest to penetrate are Malmö, with his six goals across 180 UEFA Champions League minutes against the Swedes constituting a strike every 30 minutes.
• The clubs Ronaldo has encountered the most in Europe are Atlético and Lyon, both of whom he has faced 12 times; against Atlético he scored seven goals in 1,140 minutes of football while he hit six in 1,064 minutes against Lyon.
Who has Ronaldo scored against in UEFA club competitions?
| Opponents | Games | Minutes | Goals | Minutes per goal |
| Aalborg | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| AC Milan | 6 | 513 | 2 | 256m30s |
| Ajax | 7 | 630 | 9 | 70m |
| APOEL | 4 | 360 | 6 | 60m |
| Arsenal | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Atalanta | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Atlético | 12 | 1140 | 7 | 162m51s |
| Auxerre | 2 | 162 | 1 | 162m |
| Barcelona | 6 | 540 | 2 | 270m |
| Basel | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Bayern | 8 | 763 | 9 | 84m47s |
| Benfica | 4 | 337 | - | - |
| Celtic | 3 | 262 | - | - |
| Chelsea | 1 | 120 | 1 | 120m |
| Copenhagen | 4 | 360 | 3 | 120m |
| CSKA Moskva | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Debrecen | 2 | 157 | 1 | 157m |
| Dinamo Bucureşti | 1 | 64 | - | - |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Dortmund | 9 | 800 | 7 | 114m17s |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 3 | 270 | 4 | 67m30s |
| Fenerbahçe | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Ferencváros | 2 | 180 | 1 | 180m |
| Galatasaray | 3 | 270 | 6 | 45m |
| Inter | 3 | 212 | 1 | 212m |
| Juventus | 7 | 630 | 10 | 63m |
| Legia | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Leverkusen | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Liverpool | 3 | 255 | 1 | 255m |
| Lokomotiv Moskva | 2 | 171 | - | - |
| LOSC Lille | 4 | 320 | - | - |
| Ludogorets | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Lyon | 12 | 1064 | 6 | 173m20s |
| Malmö | 2 | 180 | 6 | 30m |
| Man. City | 3 | 270 | 1 | 270m |
| Man. United | 5 | 367 | 3 | 122m20s |
| Marseille | 2 | 160 | 4 | 40m |
| Napoli | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Omonoia | 2 | 180 | - | |
| Panathinaikos | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Paris | 4 | 360 | 3 | 120m |
| Partizan | 2 | 118 | - | - |
| Porto | 6 | 411 | 1 | 411m |
| Rangers | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Real Sociedad | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Roma | 6 | 539 | 5 | 107m48s |
| Schalke | 4 | 360 | 7 | 51m26s |
| Sevilla | 1 | 90 | 2 | 45m |
| Shakhtar | 2 | 180 | 5 | 36m |
| Sheriff | 2 | 171 | 2 | 85m30s |
| Sparta Praha | 2 | 79 | - | - |
| Sporting CP | 4 | 357 | 3 | 119m |
| Stuttgart | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Tottenham | 4 | 335 | 4 | 83m45s |
| Valencia | 2 | 119 | - | - |
| Villarreal | 6 | 468 | 2 | 234m |
| Wolfsburg | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Young Boys | 2 | 162 | 1 | 162m |
| Zürich | 2 | 110 | 2 | 55m |
| TOTAL | 197 | 16,936 | 145 | 116m48s |
• Of Europe's big five football nations, Ronaldo has found German club defences most porous, averaging over a goal a game – 28 strikes in 26 matches.
• He may be advised to avoid a move to Scotland in the future: Ronaldo is yet to score in 352 minutes of UEFA club action against Scottish teams, by far the longest period that clubs from any country have been able to resist him.
Which nations' clubs has Ronaldo scored against?
| Opponents by nationality | Games | Minutes | Goals | Minutes per goal |
| Bulgaria | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Croatia | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Cyprus | 6 | 540 | 6 | 90m |
| Czech Republic | 2 | 79 | - | - |
| Denmark | 5 | 450 | 3 | 150m |
| England | 18 | 1527 | 12 | 127m15s |
| France | 24 | 2066 | 14 | 147m34s |
| Germany | 26 | 2373 | 28 | 84m45s |
| Greece | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Hungary | 4 | 337 | 2 | 168m30s |
| Italy | 26 | 2254 | 21 | 107m20s |
| Moldova | 2 | 171 | 2 | 85m30s |
| Netherlands | 7 | 630 | 9 | 70m |
| Poland | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Portugal | 14 | 1105 | 4 | 276m15s |
| Romania | 1 | 64 | - | - |
| Russia | 4 | 351 | 3 | 117m |
| Scotland | 4 | 352 | - | - |
| Serbia | 2 | 118 | - | - |
| Spain | 29 | 2537 | 13 | 195m9s |
| Sweden | 2 | 180 | 6 | 30m |
| Switzerland | 6 | 452 | 5 | 90m24s |
| Turkey | 4 | 360 | 6 | 60m |
| Ukraine | 5 | 450 | 9 | 50m |
| TOTAL | 197 | 16,936 | 145 | 116m48s |
When Ronaldo has scored his UEFA club competition goals
• The statistics strongly suggest that Ronaldo is at his goalscoring best in the opening phases of each half; he is relatively quiet in the later stages of the first half.
• Ronaldo has netted 20 penalties in UEFA club competition but failed to register with three: two saved (vs Copenhagen, December 2013 and vs Ludogorets, October 2014) and one where he missed the target (vs Barcelona, April 2008).
| Time | Goals (penalties) |
| 0-10 | 10 (1) |
| 11-20 | 14 (2) |
| 21-30 | 20 (3) |
| 31-40 | 8 (1) |
| 41-half-time | 11 (3) |
| FIRST HALF | 63 (10) |
| 46-55 | 20 (3) |
| 56-65 | 17 (1) |
| 66-75 | 11 (2) |
| 76-85 | 13 (1) |
| 86-full-time | 18 (2) |
| SECOND HALF | 79 (9) |
| EXTRA TIME | 3 (1) |
| TOTAL | 145 |
Last updated: 13/12/2022
