December 28, 2022
When Cristiano Ronaldo started his professional career in the year of 2002, few would have guessed that the skinny boy from Madeira would end up winning 5 UEFA Champions League titles. The Portuguese legend won his first UCL trophy with United and then added another 4 when already playing for Real Madrid...
Cristiano Ronaldo has written history on so many levels in European football. He is among the very small group of players (mainly his Real Madrid teammates) to have won as many as five UEFA Champions League trophies. Concerning his extraordinary career, we have decided to write an article about Ronaldo's journey to these five titles, with the help of John Pentin, who is the football betting expert at Bettingpicks4you.com. We all know how big and important this competition in football is, hence we can't deny CR7 this incredible achievement. It has by no means been straightforward, but it certainly does bring back strong memories. Stay tuned and enjoy the ride.
Cristiano Ronaldo - His 5 Champions League final performances:
Cristiano Ronaldo led Manchester United to an incredible campaign for his inaugural Champions League trophy in the 2007/08 season. The boy who arrived at Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon had big dreams and one of the first was fulfilled at Stadium Luzhniki in Moscow, where United saw off Premier League rivals, Chelsea.
The Red Devils were drawn to Group E where they did not face any problems topping it with five wins and one draw in six games. Interestingly, Cristiano faced just his former team Sporting Lisbon in this group, beating them home and away. The Portuguese outfit could not find a way out of the group phase as Italian AS Roma finished the section as runners-up with three wins, two draws, and one loss (to Man United). Dynamo Kyiv were at the very foot of the standings without a single point in six matches.
The destiny then joined Manchester United and Roma again in the quarterfinals, as the Red Devils won 3-0 on aggregate. They had earlier eliminated Lyon in the last 16 round 2-1 on aggregate. The semifinal saw Manchester United eliminating Barcelona thanks to a narrow 1-0 victory in the return leg at Old Trafford.
Finally, the Red Devils dispatched Chelsea on penalties in the final after a 1-1 draw in the regular time. Cristiano Ronaldo was the only scorer for United at the Luzhniki Stadium. Interestingly, Ronaldo was the only Man United player to miss the penalty in the shootout series, but he got lucky as John Terry slipped on the shot that could have won the trophy for the Blues. Nicolas Anelka missed later as well and Ronaldo won his first-ever Champions League trophy.
Cristiano had to wait for six years on his second Champions League trophy. This one came in Real Madrid's shirt. Ronaldo finished this campaign with surreal individual numbers, including 17 goals and 5 assists. Real topped Group B ahead of Galatasary, Juventus, and Copenhagen. They have won five and drawn one of six matches along the way, scoring a whopping 20 goals in the process.
Los Blancos then continued the journey in a similarly strong fashion, bagging nine goals in two legs against Schalke. They eliminated another German Bundesliga side in the quarterfinal, beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2 on aggregate. We now come to the most impressive of all Madrid's displays, a 5-0 aggregate win over the likes of Bayern Munich in the semifinal.
It was written in the stars that Cristiano had to win this one. Real trailed 0-1 in the stoppage-time of the final against city rivals Atletico Madrid. Sergio Ramos sent the game to extra time with a beautiful header in the 93rd minute. Los Blancos then went on to bag three more goals in the extra time, one of which was scored by Ronaldo himself.
Madrid were drawn to a tough group alongside French heavyweights PSG in the 2015/16 campaign. Nevertheless, they still won it without any problems, claiming five wins and one draw in six outings. They have managed an impressive 19-3 goal difference in the process.
Real eased past Roma with two separate 2-0 wins in the last 16 round. They then faced big and unexpected problems against Wolfsburg in the quarterfinal, advancing only thanks to the 3-0 victory in the rematch at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The semifinal was as tight as ever but Madrid somehow found a way to edge it past Manchester City, beating them 1-0 in the reverse outing in the Spanish capital.
Finally, the stage was set for the replay of the 2013/14 final against Atletico Madrid who had eliminated the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich en route to the big final at the Stadio San Siro. Ramos was on target once again, but this time he put Real in front in the 15th minute. Atletico responded via Yannick Carrasco with 11 minutes to go as penalties determined the winner of the competition. None of Real's players made a mistake from the spot, including Ronaldo who bagged the last penalty to claim his third Champions League silverware. Cristiano finished this season as the competition's top scorer as well, with 16 goals and 4 assists.
Cristiano's Real Madrid became the first team to defend the UEFA Champions League trophy under this name of the competition as they defeated Juventus in the final at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
This time, Los Blancos had to settle for the second position in their group with three wins and draws apiece from six games. Borussia Dortmund won the section with a two-point advantage. Nevertheless, Real Madrid performed at an amazing level in the knockouts. They stormed past Napoli with two separate 3-1 wins in the last 16 round before eliminating mighty Bayern Munich 6-3 on aggregate after scoring three goals in the extra-time of the reverse fixture at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
Los Blancos did not have significant problems in the semis against Atletico Madrid (4-2 on aggregate) or the final against Juventus (4-1). Once again, Cristiano Ronaldo finished the competition as the top scorer with 12 goals. He added six assists to his impressive tally as well.
Cristiano Ronaldo won his last Champions League trophy exactly ten years after winning the first one. He was the star man in Real Madrid's other triumphant run by scoring 15 goals and helping his team reach the record-extending 13th title in the prestigious competition.
Real found a way out of Group H as the runners-up as Tottenham Hotspur topped the section with five wins and one draw in six games. This gave Madrid a very tough R16 rival in the likes of PSG. Nevertheless, Los Blancos got big when it mattered most, beating the Parisians both home and away to set up the quarterfinal matchup against Juventus.
Real Madrid then eliminated Juventus and Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate each as Cristiano Ronaldo was just unstoppable in his favorite competition. Finally, Los Blancos dispatched Liverpool 3-1 in the big final at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, as Gareth Bale starred with a brace.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Manchester United in the Premier League is on December 31, against Wolverhampton. You can watch Wolverhampton vs Manchester United, Real Valladolid vs Real Madrid, PSG vs Strasbourg, Manchester City vs Everton, Liverpool vs Leicester City, and Leeds vs Man City, all matches provided from our football streaming game pages.
Manchester United next game:
Wolverhampton vs Manchester United kick-off time (31-12-2022):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 20:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 18:00
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+1: 13:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 13:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 12:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 09:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-5: 07:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-8: 04:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / premierleague.com / bbc.co.uk / itv.com
