Ronaldo's return creates new history, goal record for 25 consecutive seasons

Cristiano Ronaldo made history by returning to the field 44 days after Portugal's exit from the World Cup. The 41-year-old Portuguese star became the first footballer to score in 25 consecutive seasons in his professional career.

Ronaldo scored a goal as a substitute in Al Nasr's 4-0 win over Al Riyadh in the Saudi Pro League. With this goal, he surpassed Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic scored in 24 consecutive league seasons from the 1999-2000 season to the 2022-23 season. Ronaldo shared that record last season. This time, the Portuguese star made it his own.

Ronaldo did not play in Al Nasr's first two matches of the new season. He was in Portugal on an extended leave. After returning to Saudi Arabia after the wedding ceremony, coach Ange Postecoglou put him on the bench for the start of last night's match.

When Ronaldo came on in the 62nd minute, Al Nasr were 3-0 up. Goals from Abdullaah Al-Amri, Angelo Gabriel and Joao Felix put the hosts in control of the match.

Ronaldo got his name on the scoresheet 21 minutes after coming on. In the 83rd minute, he received Ayman Yahya's low cross into the box and sent the ball into the net with a perfect left-foot shot. That ensured Al Nasr's big win, and Ronaldo's name rose to a new record. 

After this goal, Ronaldo's total number of goals in his professional career stood at 977. This means that one of the greatest goal machines in history now has only 23 goals left to score - only then will he reach the much-awaited milestone of 1,000 goals.