“If you put the ball in those areas, he’s still the best in the world” - Manchester United legend on Cristiano Ronaldo reaching 900 goals

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as the deadliest goalpoacher in the game after the Portugal captain bagged a landmark 900th career goal for club and country earlier this week.

In A Selecao's 2-1 UEFA Nations League opening win over Croatia in Lisbon on Thursday, the 39-year-old Ronaldo ended a five-game scoring drought with his national team to create history, becoming the first player to score 900 times.

Coming off a rare scoreless campaign in five games at Euro 2024 - where Portugal were eliminated by France in the quarter-final - Ronaldo was back to scoring ways, continuing his superb start to the season.

Acknowledging Ronaldo's metronomic scoring ablity, Keane told ITV Sport (via MEN):

"That was a bit of an issue (not scoring at the Euros), but 900 goals. If you put the ball in those areas he's still the best in the world."

Ronaldo's scoreless campaign in Germany marked the first time in 11 major tournaments (FIFA World Cups, Euros) that he failed to find the back of the net. He has a record 14 goals in the Euros and eight at World Cups.

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"I want to reach 1000 goals" - Cristiano Ronaldo tells former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand (extreme left) and Cristiano Ronaldo (extreme right)

Cristiano Ronaldo recently told his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand on his newly launched YouTube channel UR Cristiano that he wishes to score a staggering 1000 career goals.

However, he hopes to stay injury free, adding that records would follow. Ronaldo - who played six seasons with Ferdinand at United in the 2000s - told his former teammate on UR Cristiano (as per MEN):

"I want to reach 1000 goals. If I don't have any injuries, this, for me, is the most important (thing). I want that."

About his aspirations to play the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, the former Manchester United attacker said that he's grateful for winning the Euros, which he considers 'equivalent' to the World Cup:

"Portugal winning the Euros is equivalent to winning a World Cup. I've already won two trophies for Portugal that I really wanted. I'm not motivated by that. I'm motivated by enjoying football and the records come naturally."

Ronaldo - who has scored in all four games for Al-Nassr this season - had an underwhelming 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign. He scored once in five games as Fernando Santos' side were upset 1-0 by Morocco in the last-eight.