Who are Cristiano Ronaldo's favourite opponents?
Friday 26 October 2018
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Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more European goals against new employers Juventus than any other side.
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With 123 goals in 13,882 minutes of UEFA club competition football, Cristiano Ronaldo scores at an average rate of a goal every 112 minutes and 52 seconds.
However, that rate was considerably higher with Real Madrid (85min 11s per goal – 107 goals in 9,115 minutes) than it was with Sporting CP and Manchester United (290min 30s per goal – 16 goals in 4,648 minutes). Ronaldo is yet to score for Juventus in 119 minutes.
• Ronaldo has played against 51 teams in UEFA club competition, scoring against 34. As a Madrid player, he faced 32 sides in Europe, with only four stopping him from finding the net: Barcelona, Dinamo Zagreb, Legia Warszawa and Napoli.
• Ronaldo has scored more UEFA club competition goals (ten) against Juventus, the club he joined in summer 2018, than any other side.
• Barcelona have proved the toughest European nut to crack for Ronaldo: he has yet to score in 450 minutes against them – 270 with United and 180 with the Merengues.
• The opponents he has found it easiest to score against are Malmö, with his six goals across 180 UEFA Champions League minutes against the Swedish club constituting a strike every 30 minutes.
• The team Ronaldo has encountered most in Europe are Lyon, whom he has met ten times – 884 minutes in total – scoring four goals.
Who has Ronaldo scored against in UEFA competitions?
| Opponents by club |
Games | Minutes | Goals | Minutes per goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aalborg | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| AC Milan | 6 | 513 | 2 | 256m30s |
| Ajax | 5 | 450 | 7 | 64m47s |
| APOEL | 4 | 360 | 6 | 60m |
| Arsenal | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Atlético | 6 | 600 | 4 | 150m |
| Auxerre | 2 | 162 | 1 | 162m |
| Barcelona | 5 | 450 | - | - |
| Basel | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Bayern | 8 | 763 | 9 | 84m47s |
| Benfica | 4 | 337 | - | - |
| Celtic | 3 | 262 | - | - |
| Chelsea | 1 | 120 | 1 | 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 | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Fenerbahçe | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Galatasaray | 3 | 270 | 6 | 45m |
| Inter Milan | 3 | 212 | 1 | 212m |
| Juventus | 7 | 630 | 10 | 63m |
| København | 4 | 360 | 3 | 120m |
| Legia | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Liverpool | 3 | 255 | 1 | 255m |
| LOSC Lille | 4 | 320 | - | - |
| Ludogorets | 2 | 180 | 2 | 90m |
| Lyon | 10 | 884 | 4 | 221m |
| Malmö | 2 | 180 | 6 | 30m |
| Man. City | 3 | 270 | 1 | 270m |
| Man. United | 4 | 277 | 2 | 138m30s |
| Marseille | 2 | 160 | 4 | 40m |
| Napoli | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Panathinaikos | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Paris | 4 | 360 | 3 | 120m |
| Partizan | 2 | 118 | - | - |
| Porto | 4 | 201 | 1 | 201m |
| Rangers | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Roma | 6 | 539 | 5 | 107m48s |
| Schalke | 4 | 360 | 7 | 51m26s |
| Sevilla | 1 | 90 | 2 | 45m |
| Shakhtar | 2 | 180 | 5 | 36m |
| Sparta Praha | 2 | 79 | - | - |
| Sporting CP | 4 | 357 | 3 | 119m |
| Stuttgart | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Tottenham | 4 | 335 | 4 | 83m45s |
| Valencia | 1 | 29 | - | - |
| Villarreal | 4 | 288 | - | - |
| Wolfsburg | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Zürich | 2 | 110 | 2 | 55m |
| TOTAL | 163 | 13882 | 123 | 112m52s |
• Of Europe's big five footballing nations, Ronaldo has found German club defences most porous, averaging well over a goal a game – 26 strikes in 24 matches. He also struggled with Spanish rearguards in Europe, notching a goal only every 238 minutes against domestic opposition in UEFA competition.
• He can be optimistic about his time in Italy with Juve, having scored against Serie A sides in Europe at a rate of around once every 115 minutes.
• He was well advised to avoid a move to Scotland: Ronaldo is yet to score in 352 minutes of UEFA club action against Scottish sides, 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 | 4 | 360 | 6 | 60m |
| Czech Republic | 2 | 79 | - | - |
| Denmark | 5 | 450 | 3 | 150m |
| England | 17 | 1437 | 11 | 130m38s |
| France | 22 | 1886 | 12 | 157m10s |
| Germany | 24 | 2193 | 26 | 84m21s |
| Greece | 1 | 90 | - | - |
| Hungary | 2 | 157 | 1 | 157m |
| Italy | 24 | 2074 | 18 | 115m13s |
| Netherlands | 5 | 450 | 7 | 64m17s |
| Poland | 2 | 180 | - | - |
| Portugal | 12 | 895 | 4 | 223m45s |
| Romania | 1 | 64 | - | - |
| Russia | 2 | 180 | 3 | 60m |
| Scotland | 4 | 352 | - | - |
| Serbia | 2 | 118 | - | - |
| Spain | 17 | 1455 | 6 | 242m30s |
| Sweden | 2 | 180 | 6 | 30m |
| Switzerland | 4 | 290 | 4 | 72m30s |
| Turkey | 4 | 360 | 6 | 60m |
| Ukraine | 4 | 360 | 8 | 45m |
| TOTAL | 163 | 13882 | 123 | 112m52s |
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 latter phase of the first half.
• Ronaldo has scored 15 penalties in UEFA competitions but failed to find the target with three; two saved (v København, December 2013, and v Ludogorets, October 2014) and one where he missed the target (v Barcelona, April 2008).
| Time | Goals (penalties) |
|---|---|
| 0-10 | 10 (1) |
| 11-20 | 12 (1) |
| 21-30 | 18 (3) |
| 31-40 | 6 |
| 41-half-time | 8 (2) |
| FIRST HALF | 54 |
| 46-55 | 18 (2) |
| 56-65 | 14 (1) |
| 66-75 | 9 (2) |
| 76-85 | 11 (1) |
| 85-full-time | 14 (1) |
| SECOND HALF | 66 |
| Extra time | 3 (1) |
| TOTAL | 123 |
Last updated: 29/10/18