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January 7, 2026
For most players, a dip defines a career. For Ronaldo, it barely registers. Across two decades of relentless excellence, even his quieter seasons feel magnified, not because they were failures, but because he made greatness look routine. When the numbers slip, it says more about his standards than his form...
Most debates about Cristiano Ronaldo swing wildly between two very different sides. Record-breaking goal tallies, decisive Champions League nights, and a level of consistency few players have ever approached. He spent twenty years playing at such a high level that his off years still beat everyone else. We notice it immediately when his stats fall off. Those rare years without his usual goals stand out. Sudden stalls mess up the stats of a tireless worker. Those seasons are scattered sparingly across his career, appearing mainly at the very start, when raw talent had yet to become efficiency, and at the very end of his European journey, when circumstances reduced his influence. A quick check of the data changes the narrative. You can see how thin the line was between his struggles and his most famous scoring streaks.
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His greatness isn't about one good year. It is about how he dominated football every single day for his entire career. Very few players remain central figures in world football at 40 years old, yet his relevance has followed him across leagues and tactical systems. If anything, his occasional struggles prove just how long he has stayed at the top. He is still the main man in Saudi Arabia. Sportsbooks accepting credit cards, alongside e-wallets, crypto, and bank transfers, price Al Nassr at 7/2 for the next league title and list him as a heavy favorite at 4/5 for the Golden Boot. That confidence reflects his continued impact. Ronaldo is, and always will be, a central figure in world football, which is why fans worldwide seek out betting platforms offering competitive odds, live betting, and generous bonuses to heighten the experience as they watch him in the twilight of his career.
Even at 40, he remains relevant in every football conversation, still challenging for individual awards and trophies with both club and country. That sustained presence at the highest level is what truly defines his legacy. However, the truth is that, viewed objectively, Ronaldo has never had a truly bad season, and even his lowest points would be career highs for many very talented players. That is exactly why over 20 years of sustained excellence make any brief dip stand out.
It has been more than 20 years since Ronaldo made his first debut for Manchester United on August 16, 2003. While he was not yet producing the incredible numbers that would later define his career, that was understandable given his age and lack of experience. However, at that stage of his career, he never needed insane output for the world to clearly see his raw talent and seemingly limitless potential.
Ronaldo’s first two full Premier League seasons at Manchester United remain the clearest examples of output lagging behind ability. He hit the back of the net four times in 2003/04. Across twenty-nine appearances, he also credited his teammates with four assists. He put up almost identical numbers the next year, finishing with five goals and four assists over 33 games.
Managers stuck him on the wing to stretch the defence. He focused on winning one-on-one battles to create chances for others instead of finishing them. While his speed turned heads and his bravery stood out, the young winger lacked a steady touch near the goal. Fans loved the show, but the team struggled to turn their many scoring opportunities into actual points on the board.
Looking at the bar he set later, finishing a season with just eight or nine goals feels weirdly small. In context, they reflect a player still learning when to simplify his game and how to translate dominance into numbers.
Ronaldo’s move to Juventus brought a different kind of scrutiny, with some arguing that his arrival disrupted the balance the club had built before he came to Turin. During his 2018/19 debut in Serie A, he found the net 21 times. He also provided eight assists across 31 league games. That kind of production usually signals the best year of a pro's life.
The issue was comparison. After scoring thirty goals a season in Madrid with ease, dropping to 21 at Juventus shifted the narrative, even though his influence and leadership remained strong. A rigid system and Serie A’s defensive focus limited his open-play output, yet later seasons in Italy proved his scoring instincts had not faded, with the first campaign only feeling underwhelming because of the extraordinary standards he had set himself.
If you look at his career, the 2022/23 season at Manchester United really breaks the mould. Before his November departure, Ronaldo struggled through ten games. He found the net only once and never assisted a teammate for a goal.
The contrast with the previous season was stark. He bagged 18 league goals during the 2021/22 campaign and carried the United attack, but twelve months later, everything unraveled as limited minutes, tension, and coaching disagreements turned the season into a wash. In pure statistical terms, it became the least productive league year of his European career, marked by disrupted rhythm and a visible loss of momentum rather than a sudden collapse in ability.
When viewed strictly through league goals and assists, Ronaldo’s weakest seasons are easy to identify, with low early-career totals and an anomalous 2022/23 campaign standing apart from an otherwise relentless record of elite production. Those dips are isolated at the margins of a career defined by consistency, to the point where missing a chance feels unusual because he so rarely does. Across 20 years of changing teams, roles, and systems, a handful of quiet spells do nothing to dent his legacy and instead underline it, showing how he remained elite even while adapting or overcoming setbacks.
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Al Nassr is on January 8, against Al Quadisiya, for the Saudi Super League. You can watch Al Nassr vs Al Quadisiya, AFC Bournemouth vs Tottenham, Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao, Burnley vs Manchester United, Fulham vs Chelsea and Manchester City vs Brighton, all matches provided from our soccer live game pages.
Al Nassr next game:
Al Nassr vs Al Quadisiya kick-off time (08-01-2026):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 01:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 23:00
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+3: 20:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 18:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 17:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 14:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 13:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 10:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / cbssports.com / goal.com
