Cristiano Ronaldo closing in on record after Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe battle
Cristiano Ronaldo is a hat-trick away from breaking the Saudi Pro League record for goals scored in a calendar year.
Ronaldo, 38, has 63 hat-tricks across his 16-year career, and a 64th one would set records in Saudi Arabia. The Al Nassr star has 33 goals in 33 league games for the Riyadh-based club, equal to the total former Al Ahli striker Omar Al Somah scored in 2016.
But it is Al Ittihad 's Abderrazak Hamdallah who holds the record with 35 goals in 2019. The Morocco international surpassed Al Somah with a hat-trick in his last game of the year, and now Ronaldo must do the same if he is to best Hamdallah four years on.
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Al Nassr ends 2023 with an away match against Al Taawoun, who currently sit fourth. They are also one of only three sides to inflict a defeat on Ronaldo's team, recording a 2-0 win in the second game of this season.
They also kept the year's top goalscorer quiet in their other league meeting with Al Nassr in 2023. But while he did not find the back of the net, Ronaldo assisted both goals in February's 2-1 win.
However, he is in hot form this month, scoring four times in his last three games, including a brace last time out against Al Ittihad. He has not failed to get himself a goal since the 3-0 loss to league-leaders Al Hilal on December 1.
Ronaldo knows what he needs to do ahead of his last match in 2023 is he is to set more records (AFP via Getty Images)That recent run has also seen Ronaldo overhaul Bayern Munich 's Harry Kane and Paris Saint-Germain 's Kylian Mbappe to end 2023 as the top goalscorer in the calendar year. Across all competitions, including international matches, Ronaldo has 53 goals for the year.
That is one more than Mbappe and Kane, who now do not play again until the New Year. Thanks to an untimely injury, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland trails the trio with only 50 goals.
Alongside his 33 league goals, Ronaldo has three in five AFC Champions League matches and one more from three King's Cup games. But it is with Portugal that he has been particularly prolific this year.
He has ten goals in nine European Championship qualifiers since Roberto Martinez took over as the national team's head coach following the World Cup. That total could have been even higher had he not been suspended for their 9-0 rout of Luxembourg after being shown a third yellow card in the qualification process in their previous game.
He scored a first-half brace in the reverse fixture, which Portugal won 6-0. Ronaldo also scored three goals across their two games against Liechtenstein.
He also had back-to-back braces against Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and scored the only goal in a 1-0 win away at Iceland during the summer. Ronaldo has 128 goals in 205 caps for Portugal since debuting for his country in August 2003, aged 18.
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