Cristiano Ronaldo has this latest Serie A record to his name!

CRISTIANO Ronaldo overtook Rui Costa to become the leading Portuguese scorer in Serie A history on Monday after a ‘rusty’ return to competitive action for Juventus in the Coppa Italia on June 12.

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Ronaldo slotted a first-half penalty down the middle in Juve’s 2-0 win over Bologna; a result that saw the Bianconeri move four points clear at the top of the table in the race for the scudetto. The goal was Ronaldo’s 22nd in Serie A amid a coronavirus-disrupted campaign, one more than he managed in his debut campaign in Turin following his move from Real Madrid in 2018.

Cristiano Ronaldo grabs Serie A scoring record - AS.com
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the Portuguese player with the most goals in Italy’s top flight after reaching 43 goals (Image: Sourced).

In reaching 43 goals, the 35-year-old also moved beyond Rui Costa as the Portuguese player with the most goals in Italy’s top flight, his latest in a string of records or awards at The Old Lady. Notably, the Portuguese won the inaugural Serie A Award for Most Valuable Player, after finishing his first Serie A campaign with 21 goals and 8 assists. Ronaldo’s compatriot Rui Costa, meanwhile, spent eight years in Serie A while playing for Fiorentina and then Milan between 1994 and 2006.

It is not the first time that CR7 has captured a similar record to this latest one. He remains the top Portuguese scorer in Premier League history having scored 84 times in 196 appearances in the six years he spent at Manchester United between 2003 and 2009. He is the also the leading Portuguese scorer in La Liga history having registered 311 goals in 292 appearances for Madrid, where he is also the club’s all-time leading scorer.

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Former AC Milan midfielder Rui Costa has been displaced by Ronaldo as the Portuguese with the most goals in the Serie A (Image: Sourced).

Only Lionel Messi has scored more goals in La Liga, making the pair the two highest-scorers in the Spanish top-flight whether as foreigners or locals. Ronaldo was heavily criticised after missing a penalty against Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final and struggling to have an impact in the final versus Napoli. The Coppa Italia final loss marks the only time in Ronaldo’s career that he has lost two successive finals, having been defeated by Lazio in the Supercoppa Italiana at the tail end of 2019.

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