Cristiano Ronaldo's 10 best goals of the decade 

#2 vs. Rayo Vallecano, February 2012

Ronaldo's back-heel against Rayo Vallecano was pure genius

Just one game after his hat-trick against Levante, Ronaldo uncorked a truly ludicrous goal to give Real Madrid an important 0-1 victory over city rivals Rayo Vallecano at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas. In a somewhat bad-tempered match that saw 9 yellow cards and 1 red card, the Portuguese forward delivered a piece of pure magic.

Early in the second half Real sent a corner into the box that missed all of its intended targets, but after a brief scramble, the ball fell to Ronaldo, who had his back to the goal and appeared to be moving further away from it. Before any Rayo defenders could react though, ‘CR7’ caught them off guard with an unbelievable back-heeled strike that flew into the bottom corner of the net.

Quite how Ronaldo was able to generate such power with a back-heeled strike remains a mystery to this day, but there can be no doubt that this one stands out as one of the Portuguese’s greatest ever goals.