EXPLAINED: Why Ronaldo still hasn’t scored 400 goals – despite Real Madrid’s claim

When Real Madrid announced that Cristiano Ronaldo had scored his 400th goal for the club the claim was quickly refuted.

The Portuguese star’s hat-trick against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday evening in the Champions League semi-final first leg saw Real Madrid go 3-0 up on aggregate.

Ronaldo did reach a number of remarkable landmarks on the night including 10+ Champions League goals in six consecutive seasons, becoming the first player in history to score back-to-back hat-tricks in the Champions League knockout stages and the first player in history to score 20 Madrid derby goals.

But when Madrid’s Twitter account celebrated what the club said was his 400th goal for ‘Los Blancos’ he had in fact, officially, netted 399.

The reason for the confusion goes back to Jose Mourinho’s spell in charge when Madrid beat Real Sociedad 2-1 on September 18, 2010, at the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian.

Ronaldo found the back of the net against ‘La Real’ with a 74th-minute free-kick via a deflection off the back of teammate Pepe, who was standing in the wall.

The goal was officially given to Pepe despite Madrid claiming that Ronaldo had broken Raul’s all-time goalscoring record of 323 for the club with the deflected effort.

…398, 399… 400! ⚽👏

⭐ @Cristiano ⭐#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/p8bwfd2Ui4

— Real Madrid C. F. (@realmadrid) May 2, 2017

Pepe would also give the goal to Ronaldo, telling Marca at the time: “Regardless of what the official match report says, the goal belongs to Cristiano.

“The ball hit me and then went in, but the credit should go to the player who took the free kick.

“When we are talking about that goal, I absolutely do not have a problem in awarding it to him. The ball went in and he deserves the credit for it.”

Ronaldo’s overall Champions League record for Real Madrid now stands at an eye-watering 88 goals and 23 assists in 86 games.

He will have the chance to officially break the 400 barrier on Saturday evening away at Tony Adams’ relegated Granada side.

But he still has some way to go to break the record for most goals for a single club with Brazil legend Pele’s 643 goals for Santos remaining a distant ambition.