Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Cristiano Ronaldo could break another record, tonight.
The Portuguese goal scoring machine hasn’t enjoyed the best of seasons, so far, with Real Madrid, scoring just once in eight La Liga games, with Zinedine Zidane’s Spanish and European champions already languishing 10 points behind Barcelona in the title race.
But in the Champions League, Ronaldo has been much more like his normal self, hitting six goals in four games.
And tonight, during Los Blancos’ clash with APOEL Nicosia, the Portugal captain could become the first ever player to score 17 goals in a single year in the Champions League.
The previous record of 16 goals in a calendar year in Europe’s elite club competition was previously set by, you guessed it, Ronaldo himself, two years ago in 2015.
Even if Ronaldo isn’t successful in his quest tonight, he’ll have another chance to set a new goal scoring record against Borussia Dortmund at the Bernabeu on 6th December.
Ronaldo has made a total of 131 appearances in the Champions League during his career, scoring 111 times and lifting the trophy on four separate occasions, once with Manchester United and three times with Real.
Zidane’s team may have struggled domestically this season, but they are all but secured a place in the last 16 of the Champions League, with seven points earned from their opening four games, leaving them five clear of third placed Dortmund.
However, the back-to-back champions haven’t had it all their own way in Group H, with Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham side coming away from the Bernabeu with a point before convincingly defeating the European champions 3-1 at Wembley a few weeks later.