Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid ace hits 40-goal mark yet again

Ronaldo's goal against Atlético Madrid on Sunday saw the Real Madrid star reach 40 in all competitions for the eighth season in a row.

Fresh from becoming the first player to score in 10 consecutive Champions League games in Tuesday's win at Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo chalked up another milestone against Atlético Madrid this weekend, grabbing his 40th goal of the season for the eighth campaign in succession.

Cristiano has only failed to score 40 or more once at Real

Cristiano, Real's all-time highest scorer with 446 goals, has reached 40 in all of his seasons with Los Blancos except 2009/10 - a campaign in which an injury suffered against Lyon in the Champions League caused him to miss 10 games. Despite that, the Portuguese still managed to find the net 33 times in his maiden year in Madrid.

His biggest haul at Real Madrid came in 2014/15, when he notched up 61 goals (of which 48 came in LaLiga, securing his fourth ESM Golden Shoe), one ahead of the 60 he racked up in 2011/12. That year, his 40 league strikes saw him beat the long-standing single-season record of 38 jointly held by Telmo Zarra (1950/51) and Hugo Sánchez (1989/90), and were also enough to earn him the first Golden Shoe of his Real career. 2012/13 then brought his third-highest total since moving to the Bernabéu: 55.

In 2010/11, he scored 53 goals, most notably a Copa del Rey final winner that clinched the first silverware of José Mourinho's Bernabéu reign. 2013/14 and 2015/16 both brought 51 goals, with the former yielding another Golden Shoe - and also seeing him set the Champions League's current single-campaign scoring record of 17 as Real lifted their tenth European title. Meanwhile, 16 of his 15/16 total came in the continent's top club competition, in which Los Blancos claimed continental crown number 11.

Ronaldo's haul of 'only' 42 last year was his lowest Real total

Last season, a year in which he was on target 42 times to help Real win a LaLiga-Champions League double, was Cristiano's 'weakest' goalscoring campaign in Spain thus far. And, with seven league games still to play and Los Merengues well-placed to reach the Champions League semi-finals, it looks very much like the forward will ensure it stays that way. He needs just three more.