On February 11 2013, Cristiano Ronaldo stated in public that he had a goal: "I want to be the highest scorer in the history of Real Madrid."
Two years and four months later, Ronaldo is very close to that aim. It is one of the reasons that he will remain at the club this summer, at least for another season. The Portugal captain is just 10 goals short of Raúl's total for the club of 323 in 741games, at a rate of 0.43 goals a game. Ronaldo has hit 313 goals in 300 matches, with a strike rate of 1.04 goals a game.
Once Ronaldo has achieved his objective of beating the club scoring record, he could well call time on his Madrid career. His contract runs until 2018 but PSG have all the machinery in place to make a concerted attempt to lure Ronaldo to Paris in 2016. The Ligue 1 champions are said to be willing to pay 150 million euros to secure Ronaldo's services.
But while he remains in Spain, Ronaldo wants to keep smashing Liga records as well. At the moment he has 225 league goals and is sixth in the all-time list. Ahead of him are Leo Messi (286), Telmo Zarra (251), Hugo Sánchez (234), Raúl (228) and Alfredo di Stéfano. The 48 goals that Ronaldo scored last season saw him overtake Gorostiza, Arza, Villa, Santillana, Mundo, Pahíño, Quini and César. If he keeps scoring at the same rate next season he will rise to second in the list, behind only Messi. However, the Portuguese already holds the record for the best scoring rate in Liga history: 1.13 goals a game.