Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid fans wincing momentarily after going down in agony following a heavy challenge during training.
Rolling on the pitch, the Portuguese superstar clutched the damaged limb and pulled down his sock to reveal a clearly visible stud mark, right on the ankle joint and the unknown culprit would have been watching with baited breath.
While the rest of his team-mates looked on, uncertain whether to be overly concerned, given the 31-year-old's penchant for theatrics, he gingerly made his way back to his feet and continued with the session.
In what can only be described as accusations of a ludicrous nature, some have suggested Ronaldo has struggled this season, failing to score against the big teams.
However, the winner against Barcelona on Saturday - his 42nd of the campaign, went some way to silencing his many detractors.
Fresh off the back of that brilliant 2-1 win at the Nou Camp - which saw Los Blancos close the gap on the La Liga leaders to seven points, Zinedine Zidane's men were able to turn their attentions to the Champions League quarter-final meeting with Wolfsburg.
Ronaldo had a poor game in the UCL final. But no one can fault him for celebrating the way he did after scoring a penalty goal in arguably one of the most important moments of his career.
But the goal that really cemented his legacy that season was number 15, a tremendous finish off a counter attack that made him the record holder for most goals scored in a Champions League season. He would score twice more to establish a record of 17 goals, but 15 is brilliance.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his assault on the record books and scored his 300th goal with Real Madrid this week.
Superstar topped the milestone in the country in the second half of Madrid 2-0 Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, the hero played a great game.
The only goal came in 288 Ronaldo playing for him as the fastest start of the feat in the history of the Spanish league. This puts it at a rate of 1.04 goals per game with the club. For some perspective Lionel Messi has scored 398 goals for Barcelona in 468 matches (0.85 goals per game).
These objectives are 214 League come, 60 have reached the Champions League, 21 were in the King's Cup, three in the Super Cup and two UEFA Super Cup was.
For Ronaldo, the trick he is closer to the home of Real Madrid all time heartthrob. Raul currently leads the charge with 323 goals, while Alfredo Di Stefano has 307. That is, Raul took 741 games to reach the finish line, while Distefano play 396 games to get your total.
While Ronaldo is unlikely that another 24 goals last nine points in the Spanish league tilts remaining Champions League (which would peak in Madrid for five more when the last one), there can be no doubt that a Distefano finally approved in 2014 -15 and probably blow Raúl log in 2015-16.
More importantly, Ronaldo restored the lead with four goals for the Pichichi award in Spain after his rival Lionel Messi is on his game for Barcelona scored a goal.
Three hundred is a big number, but there are certainly a number of milestones for the superstar on the road.
Location of America check out the milestones Ronaldo with his club in recent years:
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOP SCORERS 1. Lionel Messi - 75 (94 games) - Barcelona 1. Cristiano Ronaldo - 75 (111) - Man Utd, Real Madrid 3. Raul - 71 (142) - Real Madrid, Schalke 04 4. Ruud van Nistelrooy - 56 (73) - PSV, Man Utd, Real Madrid 5. Thierry Henry -50 (112)- Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona
Cristiano Ronaldo has some work to do to catch up.
Lionel Messi has been the best performing forward in Europe's elite leagues in 2015, according to a CIES Football Observatory study, while it ranked Cristiano Ronaldo only 29th among forwards.
The CIES study assessed players in La Liga, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A according to six Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) -- shooting, chance creation, take-ons, distribution, recovery and rigour.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOP SCORERS
1. Lionel Messi - 75 (94 games) - Barcelona 1. Cristiano Ronaldo - 75 (111) - Man Utd, Real Madrid 3. Raul - 71 (142) - Real Madrid, Schalke 04 4. Ruud van Nistelrooy - 56 (73) - PSV, Man Utd, Real Madrid 5. Thierry Henry -50 (112)- Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona
Barcelona star Messi, who has scored 17 goals in La Liga since Jan. 1, rated as the most effective forward, with teammates Luis Suarez and Neymar also placing highly at fourth and 12th respectively.
Messi's closest competitors were Bayern Munich star Arjen Robben and Wolfsburg's Bas Dost, who netted 11 goals in six Bundesliga games following the winter break but has not scored since.
Real Madrid forward Ronaldo, though, has scored only six La Liga goals since the turn of the year and ranks 29th, while the other members of the European champions' "BBC" attack were even lower. Gareth Bale, who has faced heavy criticism for his recent form, is 35th and Karim Benzema is 37th.
Argentine football star Lionel Messi and his teammates were spotted today at the Pacers vs Wizards NBA game.
Chelsea Eden Hazard and Arsenal Mesut Özil were evaluated joint best attacking midfielders, with Manchester City winger Jesus Navas third.
Highly rated Wolfsburg midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who was brought with a big money move to clubs such as Bayern Munich in combination, is close behind the fourth; Borussia Dortmund Japanese star Shinji Kagawa is according to a recent upturn in form fifth.
Dortmund's Nuri Sahin, meanwhile Jürgen Klopp the men helped to four successive league victories before taking a injury in late February and is ranked in the top two and three middle / defensive midfielder with Juventus' Paul Pogba and City Fernandinho.
City left-back Gael Clichy is the highest rank-back with distance, with Madrid and Bayern Rafinha Marcelo in the second and third.
Bayer Leverkusen's Emir Spahic is the first class central defender, followed by the city of Dortmund's Mats Hummels and Martin Demichelis. Manchester United's Chris Smalling fourth on the list, with Paris Saint-Germain pair Thiago Silva and David Luiz at five and six.
KPIs (weighted according to player position)
- Shooting: ability to take advantage of goal opportunities through accurate shooting - Chance creation: ability to put teammates in a good position to score - Take on: ability to create dangerous situations by successfully challenging opponents - Distribution: ability to keep a hold on the game through efficient passing - Recovery: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through proficient interception work - Rigour: ability to minimise goal opportunities for opponents through robust duelling
His father may be the current FIFA Ballon d'Or winner after his third triumph, yet it seems
Cristiano Ronaldo's son is in awe of his dad's great rival, Lionel Messi.
Video from Monday's Ballon d'Or gala shows four-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi affectionately greeting Cristiano Jr., patting him on the head and asking him how he is doing.
Ronaldo then calls from across the room, "He watched a video on the Internet about us and he talks about you".
He then tells his son, "Don't be embarrassed now!"
While Ronaldo appears at ease seated, when he addresses Messi, the Argentine appears to smile rather sheepishly, placing his hands in his pockets.
There has always been intense speculation that the two greatest players in the world do not see eye-to-eye. Those rumours may not dissipate with the evident affection felt by Cristiano Jr. towards Messi: voting for the Ballon d'Or revealed that Ronaldo and Messi did not nominate each other in their own top-three choices.
Last year, Spanish journalist Guillam Balague stated in his book on Messi that the pair were not friends and that Ronaldo had an extremely disrespectful nickname for his rival. Ronaldo described Balague's claim as "absolutely false" and said he had told his lawyer to take action.
The Real Madrid-man scored 57 goals for club and country in 2014 along with clinching four trophies, helping him to retain his Ballon d'Or trophy on Monday evening.
The 29-year-old beat off Messi and Manuel Neuer, receiving 37.66 per cent of the votes cast by a panel of captains, coaches and media members. Messi took second with 15.76 per cent.
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