Cristiano Ronaldo's impossible challenge?

Wants to equal Messi against Sampdoria

Posted Saturday, December 29, 2018 by Marca.com

On Saturday against Sampdoria, Cristiano Ronaldo will play his last game of 2018 with a triple challenge in mind.

The first, is to contribute to another victory for his team, the second is to reach the figure of 50 goals in the calendar year for the eighth time in his career, and the third is the most difficult; match the 51 that Leo Messi has already achieved this year, for which he would need to score a poker.

It's a huge challenge, considering that in Italy the most he has achieved in the same match has been a brace.

The Argentine has surpassed the figure of 50 goals on eight occasions between the years 2010 and 2018.

He was marginally out in 2013 when he 'only' scored 45 goals in 47 games.

Since 2011, Ronaldo has always scored more than 50 goals in a calendar year, and his best stats came in 2013 when he managed an astonishing 69.

So far in 2018, Ronaldo scored 28 with Real Madrid, six with Portugal (four of them in the World Cup) and 13 for Juventus, making a total of 47.

It remains to be seen if Allegri decides to put him in the starting lineup or instead opts to give him some rest, as happened in the last League match against Atalanta.

The Portuguese came on in the second half and played for 27 minutes, enough time to get the goal to secure a draw for Juventus.

Against Sampdoria, the striker will be able to end 12 intense months in which many things have happened on a personal level.

He won another Champions League with Real Madrid, was the Pichichi in the competition, played the World Cup in Russia, although with less success than expected, and put an end to his brilliant stage at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to continue his career in Turin.