Cristiano Ronaldo is set to end the year as world football’s top scorer in 2023 after scoring again in Al-Nassr’s 4-1 win over Al-Taawoun on Saturday.
The striker has enjoyed a successful season in Saudi Arabia after joining the league from Manchester United in January, helping his side maintain another title lead over Al-Hilal.
His strike against Al-Taawoun took him to 54 goals for the year, including international football, with only a handful of teams remaining to play before the end of the calendar year.
Ronaldo was behind both Kylian Mbappé and Harry Kane before Boxing Day, in both Ligue 1, where Kylian plays, and Bundesliga, where Kane plays, in the middle of the winter break, so is not currently playing.
Both Kane and Mbappé will finish the year with 52 goals, with Ronaldo’s most recent goal putting him ahead on 54 goals.
Al-Nassr beat last year’s Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad 5-2 on Boxing Day, with Ronaldo scoring twice from the penalty spot.
Those goals put him one ahead of his opponents, giving him an extra game to spare as he became the top scorer for 2023 among all players worldwide.
However, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner did not slow down this weekend, scoring two more goals on Saturday as he celebrated yet another award.
Another player who could play as a striker is Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, but he has been sidelined for the last few matches due to injury.
A foot problem means the Premier League record-breaker has missed City’s last four Premier League matches, as well as the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
He scored a total of 50 goals during the year.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo received this title for the 5th time, and was also the world’s top scorer in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 while still at Real Madrid.
