Cristiano Ronaldo is set to end the year as the world’s top scorer after scoring his 54th goal of 2023 in Al-Nasr’s 4-1 win over Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Professional League on Saturday.
The Portuguese striker’s 54 goals in official competitions for club and country came in 59 matches, surpassing Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (52) as well as Manchester City star Erling Haaland (50). Neither major contender will play again in 2023.
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This is the fifth time that Ronaldo has finished the year as the world’s top scorer, having also done so in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 when he was at Real Madrid. His 54 goals are the most Ronaldo has scored in a calendar year since he scored 55 in 2016, when he won one of five Ballon d’Or awards.
The 38-year-old responded to the milestone with an Instagram post, writing: “54 – I’ll say when it’s over! Thanks team.”
Ronaldo’s last goal came on Saturday, on the first anniversary of his signing with the Saudi club Al-Nasr, after his controversial exit from Manchester United.
Al-Nasr were leading 3-1 thanks to goals from Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte and Otavio on Saturday when Ronaldo headed home from six yards in the second minute of stoppage time. This is his twentieth goal in 18 league matches so far this season.
With this victory, Al-Nasr remains in second place in the Saudi League standings with 46 points from 19 matches, seven points behind leaders Al-Hilal.
