Ronaldo sends message to Man Utd teammates after scoring 700th career goal
Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his silence after scoring his 700th club career goal in Manchester United’s win over Everton on Sunday.
The superstar became the first player in football history to reach the remarkable landmark when he fired in just before half-time. That was United’s second goal of the day at Goodison Park, completing a turnaround for the visitors.
The strike also opened Ronaldo’s account for the season in the Premier League, having gone on a six-game goal drought. Rather than highlight his achievement following the win on Merseyside though, Ronaldo sent a message to his team-mates about continuing the work they have started under Erik ten Hag.
Results have been mixed in the opening months of the Dutchman’s reign, but Ronaldo is confident about the way United are heading. “Great win guys! Another step in the right direction! #WeStandUnited,” he tweeted.
Alongside that post was a photo of him scoring his landmark goal, sealing the three points for the Red Devils. The goal came after he started the game on the bench, before being introduced for the injured Anthony Martial.
He sent a message to Ten Hag about naming him as a substitute by firing past Jordan Pickford after latching onto Casemiro’s through-ball. His astonishing record of 700 goals works out as 35 strikes a season for 20 years, as highlighted by Gary Lineker.
And United boss Ten Hag hailed his superstar following the win over the Toffees. The Dutchman insisted that he is confident that the Portugal captain will now hit the goal trail for the Red Devils.
“That is really impressive. To score 700 goals is a huge performance. I’m really happy for him. I congratulate him on that performance and I’m also happy as it’s his first goal this season in the Premier League,” he said.
“He had to wait for it and I’m sure there will be more goals. Every player needs it, even when you are the best in the world, you need the goals. I have worked with many goalscorers, especially them.
“They need goals in every season to have that feeling, to have confirmation of their intuition. Once they have some goals they come in a flow and games go easier. That will happen with him as well.”
Bruno Fernandes was United’s skipper for the trip to Everton and also plays alongside Ronaldo at international level. The midfielder cheekily claimed it was “tough” to count all of Ronaldo’s records as he continues to enhance his legacy.
“It’s tough still counting goals to Cristiano, every week feels like a new record. We are very happy, he’s been working hard to find his goal, we saw it in the last game was tough for him because he tried hard, the goalkeeper, the post,” he told BT Sport.
“Today we got the win, that’s the most important thing for Cristiano that the team wins and for him as a striker, he wants to score goals. We’re very happy for that.”
