Cristiano Ronaldo had already found the net twice in the first half, only for both goals to be ruled out. After the break, the Portuguese superstar needed just 15 minutes to score three goals that did count. His hat-trick inspired Al-Nassr to a 5-3 victory over Al-Kholood on Thursday, bringing him another significant step closer to what has become his ultimate personal ambition.
Three goals in just 15 minutes
The match was finely poised at 2-2 at half-time. Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 66th minute, converting a João Félix assist from close range. Six minutes later, he headed home a cross from his compatriot before completing his hat-trick in the 81st minute, this time finishing a move created by Sadio Mané. Félix was another outstanding performer, registering four assists in total.
It was the 67th hat-trick of Ronaldo’s club and international career and his seventh since joining Al-Nassr. Among the spectators was heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, who subsequently described the Portuguese striker as an “alien” in comments to the Saudi Pro League.
985 goals and a very specific ambition
Ronaldo’s latest treble took his widely recognised career tally to 985 goals in official matches for club and country. Just 15 more are required to reach four figures. The largest share of his remarkable total came during his time at Real Madrid, where he scored 450 competitive goals between 2009 and 2018.
Ronaldo openly discussed his ambition in a 2024 interview with his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand. “I want to reach 1,000 goals,” he declared, stressing that staying injury-free would be essential to achieving that objective. At the time, he was still approaching the 900-goal milestone.
Whether he can reach 1,000 before the end of 2026 remains uncertain. Even if Ronaldo features in every remaining club fixture and also represents Portugal, he would need an extraordinary scoring rate over the final two months of the year.
Pelé, Romário and the disputed 1,000-goal club
The 1,000-goal milestone has a long and complicated history in football. Pelé famously celebrated what was considered his 1,000th goal in November 1969, converting a penalty for Santos against Vasco da Gama.
Guinness World Records credits the three-time World Cup winner with 1,279 goals in 1,363 matches. However, that total includes numerous friendlies and exhibition games, which are generally excluded from modern official career statistics.
Romário’s story is similar. The Brazilian, who won the World Cup in 1994, celebrated his own 1,000th goal in May 2007. His personal tally, however, included 77 youth-team goals as well as strikes scored in friendly and charity matches.
Arthur Friedenreich, one of Brazil’s earliest football icons, has also been credited with as many as 1,329 goals, although that figure is not fully documented. Josef Bican, who represented both Austria and Czechoslovakia, is another legendary striker whose estimated career total exceeds 1,000 when friendlies are included. Some historical calculations even put his tally above 1,800.
The crucial distinction lies in how the goals are counted. Under the criteria generally used today for official senior matches, no player has yet reached 1,000 recognised career goals.
Ronaldo wants a record beyond dispute
Ronaldo is determined to avoid the controversy surrounding the historical claims. During his interview with Ferdinand, he specifically pointed out that his goals had been captured on video, an unmistakable reference to the disputed records of earlier generations.
Although modern football statistics can still differ slightly over the attribution of individual goals, the available documentation is far more comprehensive than it was during the eras of Pelé or Friedenreich.
Ronaldo could therefore become the first player to reach 1,000 goals under today’s widely accepted official counting system. The Portuguese forward has scored consistently at the highest level for more than two decades, repeatedly adapting his style of play. The explosive winger of his early years has evolved into a ruthless penalty-box finisher.
Those final 15 goals may still take several months to arrive. But his performance against Al-Kholood provided another reminder that, even at 41, Ronaldo remains capable of deciding matches almost single-handedly. The Portuguese veteran still has nine competitive fixtures scheduled with his Saudi club before the end of the year.
