Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo has set the record as the leading appearance maker in the Champions League history after this team’s 2-1 win against Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Ronaldo made his 178th feature in the competition overtaking former Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas who made 177 appearances with Real Madrid and FC Porto.
He made his UCL debut all the way back in 2003, playing 90 minutes as the Red Devils slipped to a disappointing defeat away at Stuttgart, but this poor result did not set the tone for his Champions League record.
The Portuguese national team captain has featured for three different clubs in the competition namely Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United and has lifted the famous trophy five times, winning in 2008 with United and in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 with Real.
Ronaldo is also the record Champions League goalscorer by some distance, scoring the winner in the Villarreal game takes his goal tally to 136 strikes, 15 ahead of second-place Lionel Messi.
Robert Lewandowski (75), Karim Benzema (72) and Raul (71) are his next closest challengers.
Ronaldo managed to provide hope for United in this season’s competition after a poor start in matchday one, losing to minnow Young Boys 2-1, a match that saw Aaron Wan-Bissaka being sent off for a poor tackle.
United had their revenge over the Spanish side on Wednesday after losing on penalties to them in the finals of the 2021 Europa League Cup.
