Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 6y

Cristiano Ronaldo's best goals for Real Madrid, Portugal and Man United

Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic second goal for Real Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League 3-0 quarterfinal first leg win at Juventus had the home fans applauding.

The Portugal captain, and former Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon player, has scored a lot of good goals, so here is a top 10 from the 33-year-old's career to date.

1. Bicycle kick, Real Madrid vs. Juventus, Champions League quarterfinal first leg -- April 3, 2018

For many years now, Ronaldo has been attempting to add one goal to his repertoire: a bicycle kick. But on every previous occasion, something had been missing -- whether due to goalkeeping brilliance, the woodwork, imperfect contact with the ball and, on one occasion, the officials disallowing a perfectly good goal.

Everything finally came together on Tuesday in Turin. Dani Carvajal's cross was too far behind its attempted target, but that only contributed to the opportunity. Juventus defender Mattia de Sciglio mistakenly thought he could get there first with his head.

Ronaldo threw himself a full 2.38 meters off the ground (almost exactly crossbar height) and made perfect contact with his right boot. Goalkeeper Gigi Buffon just watched, in awe more than anything, as the ball flew into the corner.

The perfect finish also brought the perfect reaction -- Juventus fans rising to their feet to applaud the individual genius, even though they knew the goal had virtually ended their team's chances of progress in the competition.

2. 40-yard screamer, Manchester United vs. Porto, Champions League quarterfinal second leg -- April 15, 2009

There was big pressure on Ronaldo: He was going back to his home country with Manchester United for a Champions League quarterfinal return and with Porto having the advantage following a 2-2 draw in the first game at Old Trafford.

But the former Sporting player was clearly keen to stamp his name on the occasion. Just six minutes in, he received a pass from teammate Anderson deep in midfield, took a few touches to steady himself and fired an unstoppable 40-yarder right into the top corner.

A stunned Porto side never recovered, and Sir Alex Ferguson's men progressed toward a final where they would beat Chelsea to lift the trophy. The long-range strike was also voted United's goal of the decade by fans in 2010.

3. Bamboozling Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid vs. Atletico, La Liga -- April 11, 2012

In April 2012, Jose Mourinho's Madrid led La Liga but were under pressure from chasing Barcelona. On a visit to neighbours Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo opened the scoring with a trademark swerving free kick. But Radamel Falcao equalised, and with 20 minutes left, Los Blancos' title challenge appeared to be faltering.

That is, until Ronaldo picked the ball up out toward the left wing, with plenty of defenders between him and the goal. Using Fabio Coentrao's overlapping run as a decoy, he took another touch to set himself and clipped a tremendously powerful shot that spun over Thibaut Courtois and down into the far top corner. He celebrated by rolling up his shorts to show everyone his thickly muscled right thigh and later completed his hat trick from the penalty spot as Madrid won 4-1.

4. World Cup progress, Portugal vs. Sweden, World Cup playoff -- Nov. 19, 2013

Portugal vs. Sweden for a place at the 2014 World Cup was widely billed as Ronaldo vs. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and things really did turn out that way. Ronaldo scored the only goal in the first leg in Lisbon, then added another early in the second half of the return in Stockholm, only for Ibrahimovic to score twice in four minutes and put Sweden on the brink of the finals in Brazil.

That just added to the challenge, though, and Ronaldo provided a quick-fire double of his own to ensure it was his country that qualified. All three strikes were excellent, but the third stands out as he calmly controlled Joao Moutinho's precise pass, rounded goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson and slammed the ball home from a tight angle. It was also his 47th for his country -- tying the Portugal national record he would soon have all on his own.

5. Clasico winning header, Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, Copa del Rey -- April 20, 2011

A storm of four Clasicos in 18 days -- with Barca progressing in the Champions League and all but sealing the La Liga title -- looked set to create much doom and gloom at the Bernabeu.

A tight Copa del Rey final at Valencia's Mestalla stadium was goalless well into the second period of extra-time, when Lionel Messi was dispossessed in the centre-circle. The ball was moved quickly to Angel Di Maria on Madrid's left wing, and he clipped a cross to the back post, where Ronaldo soared over marker Dani Alves and powered a header that goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto could do nothing about. The goal was worth more than just a trophy as Mourinho's Madrid had shown they could match Pep Guardiola's side in a one-off game. The Clasico tide started to turn.

6. Starts and finishes move at Anfield, Real Madrid vs. Liverpool, Champions League group stages -- Oct. 22, 2014

Madrid came to Anfield in October 2014 as Champions League holders and quickly showed their authority by totally outclassing Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool side.

It took Ronaldo just 23 minutes to showcase the gulf in quality. He dropped deep to take the ball from Luka Modric, played a one-two with Pepe, exchanged passes with Karim Benzema before running onto a return ball from James Rodriguez to finish with a devastating first time flick of his boot past goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Six different Liverpool players were taken completely out of the game as Ronaldo orchestrated the entire move, including scrambling skipper Steven Gerrard. They were all chasing shadows for the rest of the game as Carlo Ancelotti's team eased to a 3-0 win.

7. Rescuing Portugal with a backheel, Portugal vs. Hungary, Euro 2016 -- June 22, 2016

Portugal looked in serious danger of a shock exit from Euro 2016 as Hungary kept taking the lead in their final group game in Lyon.

Ronaldo had not scored from 20 attempts in the first two matches -- including a missed penalty in a 0-0 against Austria. But, as usual, when it really mattered, he stepped up, with an assist and two equalisers in a 3-3 draw, which ensured progress to the knockout stages.

His first of the game was the pick of the bunch: a neat backheel flick from Joao Mario's cross, which made him the first player to score in four different European Championship finals. And it kept his country on track to win their first-ever international tournament a few weeks later.

8. Unstoppable finish from edge of the box, Real Madrid vs. Atletico, Champions League semifinal first leg -- May 2, 2017

Less than 12 months ago, some pundits were wondering (not for the first or last time) if Ronaldo had gone past his best, after a spell of 659 minutes without scoring in Europe, and whistles from his own team's fans at the Bernabeu.

These critics were silenced by another match-winning performance in a 3-0 Champions League semifinal first leg win at home to neighbours Atletico. Ronaldo's early header had Madrid ahead, but goalkeeper Jan Oblak kept his side well in the tie until Filipe Luis' attempted interception of Karim Benzema's pass sent the ball spinning up into the air near the edge of the area.

The bounce of the ball seemed impossible to predict, but not for Ronaldo, who immediately positioned his body perfectly to get tremendous power on a shot that flew past Oblak into the roof of the net. He soon completed another hat trick, which all but secured passage to another Champions League final.

9. Free kick into the top corner, Real Madrid vs. Sporting Lisbon, Champions League group stage -- Sept. 14, 2016

Sporting Lisbon seemed set for a shock first win at the Bernabeu, with Ronaldo looking over-anxious to do something special against his boyhood club and short of match fitness following his injury at that summer's Euro 2016.

That was until Ronaldo won a free kick 25 yards out from goal and picked himself up to perfectly place a shot over the wall and into the top corner. Goalkeeper Rui Patricio, who had guessed his international teammate's intentions correctly, but still could not quite get there, was helpless.

10. Brave header, Real Madrid vs. Roma, Champions League quarterfinal first leg -- April 1, 2008

Almost exactly a decade ago, in another Champions League quarterfinal first leg in Italy, Ronaldo scored one of the most memorable headers of his career.

The then-23-year-old was not even in the TV picture when Paul Scholes clipped a cross into centre of the Roma penalty area, but after a 20-yard sprint, he hurled himself into the air, knowing he would be clattered by a defender, but focused on getting the right contact to get the ball into the net.

The impact left Ronaldo dazed on the ground, and he had to hold off teammates eager to celebrate before getting the OK from the medical team to continue.

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