Cristiano Ronaldo is unbelievably good, La Liga's top scorer, and probably going to win the Ballon d'Or despite doing nothing in the World Cup. But he did three things on Saturday that were ridiculous even by his lofty standards, and his performance in Real Madrid's 3-0 win against Celta Vigo was a reminder why he's the best player in the world at present.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 3 ridiculous accomplishments from Saturday
He is absurdly good.
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1. He scored a hat trick.
This is the least impressive of the three accomplishments. He was excellent against Celta Vigo, notching one goal from the penalty spot and two from open play. The two open play goals were pretty awesome poacher’s efforts.
Here’s the first, with a nice little bit of skill.
And the second, featuring some great off-the-ball movement.
2. He became the fastest player to score 200 La Liga goals.
It took Alfredo Di Stefano 250 games to achieve this feat, Lionel Messi 235 games and Telmo Zarra 219. Ronaldo did it in just 178 games in the league. Yes, a massive percentage of those goals came from the penalty spot, but he's still done it in 40 fewer games than Zarra, and all of those players have taken a few spot kicks in their day. With all of his penalties taken out, Ronaldo still would have certainly reached this accomplishment faster than Messi.
3. He set the record for most hat tricks in La Liga, with 23.
No, not the fastest to a certain number of hat tricks. Most hat tricks, period. De Stefano and Zarra both have 22, while Messi -- who has four more seasons as a first choice player in the league under his belt than Ronaldo does -- has 20. This was also Ronaldo’s fourth hat trick this season, in just 14 matches.
Ronaldo now has an absolutely outrageous 23 league goals this season. Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have 21 combined.
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