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Cristiano Ronaldo will be presented with a special Uefa award in recognition of his place as the Champions League’s all-time leading goalscorer.
The Portuguese forward, a five-time winner of the competition, will be given the gong at the revamped draw for this season’s tournament on Thursday 29 August in Monaco.
Ronaldo registered 140 times in 183 Champions League appearances for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus across 18 seasons.
The 39-year-old finished as the top scorer in seven campaigns and is 11 goals clear of Lionel Messi at the top of the scoring charts, with the two long-time now rivals now both plying their trade outside of Europe.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the brightest stars in the Uefa Champions League constellation,” Aleksander Ceferin, Uefa president, said. “His sustained excellence at the highest level is a testament to his relentless pursuit of both team and individual honours.
“Over more than two decades, he has continuously evolved and refined his game while preserving a youthful passion for scoring and celebrating goals.”
Ronaldo won his first continental crown in 2008 with Manchester United, before joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2009. He added four more Champions League crowns during his time in the Spanish capital.
Capped 212 times by Portugal, the forward is also the leading all-time male international goalscorer and could yet add to his tally of 130 goals having insisted that he hopes to play on for Roberto Martinez’s side.
“When I leave the national team, I won’t tell anyone in advance and it will be a very spontaneous decision on my part, but also a very well thought-out one,” Ronaldo told Portuguese channel NOW.
“Right now what I want is to be able to help the national team in their upcoming matches. We have the Nations League ahead of us and I would really like to play.”
