- Ronaldo won four Champions League during a nearly decade long Madrid spell
- The Portuguese is the club’s all-time top scorer with 450 goals in 438 matches
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! We need Arsenal’s personality! This needle is what the Premier League is all about
Real Madrid have paid tribute to their former star Cristiano Ronaldo as he celebrates his 40th birthday.
Ronaldo spent nearly a decade at the Bernabeu, scoring 451 times in 438 games for the Spanish giants.
He won four Champions League titles with the club and received the Ballon d’Or prize four times during his time there. The global superstar left for Juventus in 2018 before rejoining Manchester United three years later.
Ronaldo continues to feature regularly for his national team and holds the record for the most goals at international level – 135 – despit7e now playing in Saudi Arabia for Al Nassr.
And on his landmark birthday, Madrid sent their ‘warmest wishes’ to the club legend and all-time top scorer.
‘Dear Cristiano, from Real Madrid, we want to send you our warmest wishes on your 40th birthday,’ a post on the club’s X account read. ‘Every madridista is proud of the legend that you are and what you represent for our history.
Cristiano Ronaldo won four Champions League titles during his near decade with Real Madrid
The Spanish giants wished their former star a club legend well as he celebrates his 40th birthday
The club took to social media to post a collage of some of the striker’s most iconic moments in a Madrid shirt
Ronaldo continues to net at a prolific rate and is just 77 goals away from scoring 1,000 in his career
‘Have a great day with you family and loved ones.’
The club’s touching message comes a day after the striker admitted that he misses his former side and looks back on his time in the Spanish capital as the best of his glittering career.
‘Spain is my home, my children grew up there. It’s where I was happiest in football, I will always have Madrid in my heart,’ he told MARCA. ‘I did some really nice things and people don’t forget.
On the prospect of returning to the club in some capacity, he added: ‘One day maybe. I don’t rule it out. I left a legacy there, a nice mark there.
‘Maybe when I finish my career I can do something cool, with 80,000 people. People today value those duels with Barcelona, we lived a week with sky-high tension.
‘The fans, the TV talking about the game. Madrid-Barcelona, Cristiano-Messi, Pique and Ramos… It was nice, a rivalry that existed and was healthy.’
Ronaldo has been in fine form for Al Nassr this season, scoring 21 goals in 24 appearances. The side find themselves eight points adrift of Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal and Al Ittihad. The club made the marquee signing for Jhon Duran for £64million from Aston Villa as they try to secure a maiden league title since Ronaldo’s arrival.
Despite turning 40, Ronaldo is unlikely to slow down as he bids to become the first player to score 1,000 professional goals. The striker is 77 strikes away from the tally, with 923.
