Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo turns 35 today, Wednesday, and this provides him a chance to break more UEFA Champions League records as one of the top 35+ scorers in the history of the competition.
The Juventus and Portugal forward’s first challenge is to become the 50th player aged over 35 to score in the UEFA Champions League since the competition was introduced in 1992/93.
Next, he will be targeting to overtake the tally of goals scored by those above 35 in the history of the competition.
Top 35+ UEFA Champions League scorers
5: Didier Drogba (Galatasaray, Chelsea)
4: Laurent Blanc (Manchester United)
4: Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan)
3: Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
3: Ulf Kirsten (Bayer Leverkusen)
In the pre-Champions League era, several players scored even more goals once they turned 35.
Should Ronaldo steal Drogba’s crown as the UEFA Champions League’s top mature goalscorer, his next target will be matching the tallies of two Real Madrid greats: Alfredo Di Stéfano, who hit 13 European Cup goals after turning 35, while Ferenc Puskás got to 17 in just 18 games.
In the UEFA Europa League, Aritz Aduriz set the bar high for 35+ strikers with 22 goals after he reached 35 on 11 February 2016.
Top 35+ UEFA Europa League scorers
22: Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Club)
11: Markus Rosenberg (Malmö)
5: Pavel Horváth (Plzeň)
4: Andrey Arshavin (Kairat Almaty)
4: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Manchester United)
4: Ģirts Karlsons (Ventspils, Liepāja)
4: Sigurd Rushfeldt (Tromsø)
4: Davor Vugrinec (Varaždin)
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