RONALDO’S RECORDS

CRISTIANO Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances and goals in the Champions League, two of a host of categories in which he leads the way.

Scoring against a 38th different opponent in the competition proper saw him reclaim one of those marks outright from Lionel Messi and here are some of his others...

MOST APPEARANCES: 179

RONALDO’S first Champions League appearance of his second spell with United, against Young Boys, saw him draw level with Iker Casillas on 177 before he broke the record against Villarreal.

MOST GOALS: 137

RONALDO and Messi are the only players to score more than 100 Champions League goals, with the Portuguese 14 clear. Robert Lewandowski is a distant third on 78.

GOALS IN A SEASON: 17

RONALDO’S 2013-14 campaign set the record, while he scored 16 two seasons later. Messi’s best is 14 in 2011-12. MOST HAT-TRICKS: 8 RONALDO’S most recent treble came for Juventus against Atletico in 2019 and drew him level with Messi.

TIMES TOP SCORER: 7

MESSI is just behind on six, including the 2014-15 season in which the two, along with Neymar, tied on 10 goals. SCORED IN MOST FINALS: 3 RONALDO has won the trophy five times and scored in three of those finals, in 2008 for United and 2014 and 2017 for Real.

SCORED AGAINST MOST OPPONENTS: 38 MESSI’S brace against Leipzig on Tuesday briefly drew him level with Ronaldo, who responded with a late winner against Atalanta. His record is 39 if the qualifying rounds are included.

RONALDO V MESSI

ONE record Ronaldo can never take from Messi is the latter reaching 100 goals in the fewest games - 123 to Ronaldo’s 144.

Messi has also scored in 17 Champions League seasons to Ronaldo’s 16 and is younger by more than two years. Ronaldo’s more frequent transfers have helped him add to his tally of opponents - he has scored Champions League goals against United and his former clubs Sporting Lisbon and Juventus, though not Real.