Football

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese footballer who currently plays for Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team. A complex footballer, considered by many to be the best at the moment, who can score beautiful goals, sometimes even from direct free kicks. Currently one of the best footballers in the world. He won the Ballon d'Or (2008) and the FIFA Ballon d'Or (2013, 2014). In 2009, he won the FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal of the year. On March 5, 2014, in a friendly against Cameroon, he scored 2 goals (a 5-1 win), making him Portugal's top scorer with 49 goals (overtaking Pauleta).

He has a son, Ronaldo Junior, who likes to rival his father, Lionel Messi.

Club career

He started his professional career in Sporting Lisbon, from where he transferred to Manchester United in 2003 for 12.24 million pounds. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to Real Madrid for 80 million euros as the most expensive player in history. In the 2010/11 season, with 40 goals scored, he became the all-time top scorer in the Spanish league. He also became the holder of the Golden Boot in 2007/08 when he scored 42 goals in the season at Manchester United and in 2010/11 when 40 goals secured Real Madrid 2nd place in La Liga and the semi-finals of the Champions League. Cristiano also won the Ballon d'Or award for 2008.

On 24 March 2012, in a match against San Sebastian, he broke the club record for the fastest time to reach 100 league goals while playing for Real Madrid. 92 league games were enough for him. The current record holder, Ferenc Puskás, needed 105 matches to do so.

He scored one goal in Real's first leg in the 2012/13 Champions League semi-finals on 24 April 2013 against Borussia Dortmund (equalizing the tie at 1-1, it was his 50th anniversary Champions League goal and twelfth in this year's LM), but Real eventually left home with a 1:4 defeat and an uncomfortable position for a rematch. A 2-0 win in the second leg on 31 April was not enough to advance, Ronaldo had to say goodbye to his teammates with the prospect of winning the Champions League winner's cup. Ronaldo did not score a goal in this match.

On 23 October 2013, he scored two goals in the 2013/14 Champions League group stage match against Juventus in Italy, setting up a 2–1 win for Real Madrid. He scored the second goal from a penalty kick. With Real, he advanced from first place in the basic group B to the knockout stages of the 2013/14 Champions League. In the last match of the group on 10 December 2013, he scored a goal against the Danish team FC Copenhagen, contributing to a 2-0 victory. At the same time, it was his ninth goal in the basic group, setting a new LM record.

On 22 December 2013, he scored once in a league match against Valencia, his 18th league goal in 2013/14. However, Diego Costa from Atlético Madrid surpassed him by a goal in the scorers' table. At the end of the year, Ronaldo became the Primera División's top scorer with 31 goals scored. Although he did not win the league title in the season (Atlético Madrid won it), he became the winner of the UEFA Champions League after a 4-1 final victory after extra time in the derby over Atlético Madrid. He contributed one goal to the victory and with 17 goals (a competition record) he also became the best scorer of this year's Champions League and thus defended his first place from the previous year (in total he became the king of LM scorers three times, even in the 2007/08 season). Ronaldo also became the first player in history to score in the final for two different Champions League winning teams.

The new season of Primera División 2014/15 started fantastically as he scored a combined 7 goals in the 3rd and 4th rounds (he had 9 goals scored in 4 rounds in total), he also entered the list of the top 10 goalscorers of the Primera División. In December 2014, he broke Alfredo di Stéfano and Telmo Zarra's record by scoring a record 23 hat-tricks in his entire career in La Liga. On 5 April 2015, he scored 5 goals in a league game for the first time in his career, it was against Granada CF in a 9–1 win.

International career

He made his debut in the national team in August 2003 against Kazakhstan. At the 2004 European Football Championship, he scored Portugal's two goals in the first match against Greece (1:2) and scored his team's first goal in the semi-final match, which Portugal eventually won 2:1. However, his team again lost to Greece in the final. He also represented his country at the Olympic Games in Athens, Euro 2008, Euro 2012 and the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. With three goals scored, he was in the top six scorers of Euro 2012 (besides Mario Gómez, Mario Balotelli, Mario Mandžukić, Alan Dzagojev, Fernando Torres).

On 19 November 2013, he scored a hat-trick in the return play-off match against hosts Sweden to secure a 3–2 win and Portugal's qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He thus caught up with compatriot Pauleta in the number of national team goals (47). His able opponent was Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović, who scored twice. The media described the meeting between these two European teams as a duel between Ronaldo and Ibrahimović. Four days earlier, Ronaldo scored the only and thus the winning goal in the first leg of the tie.

EURO 2004

At the 2004 European Football Championship, he scored Portugal's only goal in the first match against Greece (1:2). He also scored his team's first goal in the semi-final match against the Netherlands, which Portugal eventually won 2:1. In the final, however, his team again lost to Greece (0:1).

2004 Summer Olympics

Portugal did not show up in the best light at the Olympics. Despite the easy-looking group (Iraq, Morocco, Costa Rica), Portugal failed to advance. Ronaldo stood out the most in the match against Morocco, when he scored the first goal of the match. Cristiano introduced himself in the match against Iraq, where he did not score a goal.

World Cup 2006

Cristiano, as one of the driving forces of the team, was able to establish himself in this championship as well. It happened in the match against Iran. It was his only goal, but he didn't have to regret it, because he led Portugal to the semi-finals, where they lost to France, even with the legendary Zidane, 0:1. The Portuguese played against the Germans in the bronze medal match played at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Cristiano struggled in this match and so did the whole Portuguese team. In the match, the Portuguese eventually lost to the Germans 1:3.

EURO 2012

With three goals scored, he was in the top six scorers of EURO 2012 (besides Mario Gómez, Mario Balotelli, Mario Mandžukić, Alan Dzagojev, Fernando Torres).

EURO 2016

Portugal national team coach Fernando Santos included him in the final 23-man nomination for EURO 2016 in France.[25] In the championship final against hosts France, he suffered a leg injury in the first half after a collision with Payet and the Portuguese had to do without their biggest star for the rest of the game. Nevertheless, they managed to win their first title at the European Championship after Éder's winning goal in extra time.[26] At EURO 2016, he scored 3 goals, making a total of 9 from the European Championship, equaling the record of Frenchman Michel Platini.

Personal life

Cristiano has been living in the capital of Spain, Madrid, since 2009. In Madrid, Ronaldo rents villas in which he lives with his family. He became a father in 2008 and wrote this on his Twitter: "I am very happy to announce that I recently became the father of a son," Ronaldo said. According to the Portuguese newspaper Correiro da Manha, the mother of the child is a woman from North America who gave birth to the boy at the beginning of June. "I have agreed with the child's mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, that the son will be entrusted only to my care," the Real Madrid star added. So Ronaldo is raising a son at home, whom he named after himself - Cristiano Ronaldo Junior. Ronaldo's current girlfriend is Russian top model Irina Shayk, whom Ronaldo met through the Armani Exchange campaign. Ronaldo and the Russian beauty were a couple from May 2010 until January 2015.