Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 100th league goal in Al Nassr’s recent victory over Al Shabab, moving his team within a single step of securing the Saudi Pro League title. With this strike, the Portuguese superstar became the only player in history to score 100 goals in three different domestic leagues, a feat that even Lionel Messi has yet to achieve.
Cristiano scored the third goal for Al Nassr in their 4-2 win against Al Shabab, reaching the century mark in the Saudi Pro League in just 105 appearances. This milestone marks the third time he has dominated a top-flight division after previously setting historic numbers in Spain and England.
His first century came during his legendary stint with Real Madrid, where he remains the club’s all-time leading scorer with 451 total goals, including 311 in La Liga across 292 matches.
He reached the 100-goal mark for a second time in the Premier League with Manchester United, tallying 101 goals in 236 games over two separate tenures. Ronaldo nearly extended this record to a fourth league during his time with Juventus, though he finished his Serie A career just shy of the milestone with 81 goals in 98 matches.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his 100th league goal with Al Nassr. (Getty Images)
How does Messi compare?
Regarding Messi, the Argentine icon remains far from achieving this impressive feat even across two different clubs. The vast majority of his goals came during his legendary tenure at Barcelona, where he spent nearly his entire career and netted 474 goals in La Liga over 520 matches, cementing his status as the all-time leading scorer for both the competition and the club with 672 total goals.
During his stint with PSG, the Argentine was unable to replicate the prolific scoring he displayed during his golden era in Barcelona. Having spent only two seasons in France, Messi recorded just 22 goals in 58 Ligue 1 appearances.
He is currently attempting to write his next chapter in the United States, where he serves as the all-time leading scorer for Inter Miami with 86 goals, 58 of which were scored in Major League Soccer across 63 matches.
While he is still short of the 100-goal milestone, his remarkable scoring rate of 0.92 goals per game in MLS suggests the Argentine legend is well on his way to reaching that objective.
