Cristiano Ronaldo took to the field on Saturday, leading the line for Al Nassr in their showdown against Al-Taawoun in their final game of 2023.
And to no one's surprise, the Portuguese icon got on the scoresheet, scoring Al-Alami's fourth and final goal in stoppage time to take his tally in the Saudi Pro League this season to 20 goals and nine assists in 18 fixtures.
Furthermore, this cemented the five-time Ballon d'Or winner as the top-scoring player in the world in 2023. His goal over the weekend took his tally in this calendar year to 54, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane at 52 each, as well as Erling Haaland at 50 goals over the past 12 months.
"I will continue. Next year, I'll try to do it again."
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 31, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo has no plans to retire after ending 2023 as the world's top goal scorer at 38-years-old pic.twitter.com/2s5xqE1cwX
Additionally, the Real Madrid legend also ended an eight-year wait. The goalscoring machine had not finished a calendar year as the top scorer since 2015 but 2023 finally saw him end this run.
The 38-year-old achieved this in 59 matches, taking his goals-per-game tally to 0.91. This is roughly the same as Kane (52 goals in 57 matches), superior to Haaland (50 goals in 60 matches), but slightly lower than Mbappe's (52 goals in 53 games).
The former Real Madrid ace later took to Instagram to post a defiant message following this brilliant milestone, writing: "54 – I'll say when it's finished! Thanks, team!"
Fans continue to ask when Ronaldo will hang his boots but if his form is anything to go by, the world will be treated to a few more years from the Portuguese legend.
