CRISTIANO RONALDO
With the departure of Raúl during the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed the No. 7 shirt for Real Madrid.[77] On 23 October 2010, Ronaldo scored four goals against Racing de Santander,[78] the most goals he has ever scored in a single match.[79] This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches (three in La Liga, one in the Champions League, and two for Portugal) in which Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Ronaldo has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid's 5–0 defeat by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Ronaldo scored his second La Liga hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over Athletic Bilbao.[80] His final match of the calendar year saw him score a hat-trick in a 8–0 trashing ofLevante in the Copa del Rey.[81]
Ronaldo began the 2011 with a very promisingly, especially after Real Madrid acknowledged that he had broken numerous goalscoring records, previously settled and held by classic players such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Hugo Sánchez, and Manuel Alday.[82][83] 2011 began with Ronaldo scoring two vital goals in a tight 3–2 victory away to Getafe.[84] He then consolidated his massive performances by scoring a hat-trick and assisting Kaká to score his first league goal after his return from injury, in a 4–2 victory over Villareal on 9 January. One game away from the middle of the season, Ronaldo had a very clear chance of breaking Telmo Zarra's and Hugo Sánchez's record of 38 League goals in a single season, since he was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, above Lionel Messi.[85][86] However, shortly after, Ronaldo experienced the biggest goal drought in his entire career, scoring only 2 goals in more than a month. During this period, Real Madrid acknowledged to have hit the crossbar more than 12 times in the season, most of the shots belonging to Ronaldo and almost all having happened during crucial moments in drawn matches.[87] Ronaldo then made a massive comeback by scoring a hat-trick in a 7–0 trashing of Málaga on March 3, 2011, but was affected by a muscle injury at the end of the match, which forced him to spend 10 days on the sidelines.
In April he made another massive comeback from injury, sustaining a three-game scoring streak (including 2 goals in Champions League quarter-finals against Tottenham Hotspur), thus arriving to the first of a historical series of four El Clásico encounters, two goals short of breaking his personal record of 42 goals in all competitions in a single season, achieved at Manchester United in the 2007–08 season.
During the second league edition of El Clásico this season, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot and took his tally to 41 goals (42 according to Marca),[88] taking his scoring streak to four games. He scored his first goal in El Clásico in a 1–1 tie at the Santiago Bernabéu.[89] On 20 April, Ronaldo scored the winning goal against Barcelona in the 103rd minute of the Copa del Rey final.[90] 7 May saw Real travel to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to take on Sevilla. Ronaldo led a thrashing of the woeful Andalusian side, scoring four goals in a 6–2 victory. These four goals took him to 46 for the season which bettered his previous record of 42 in a season playing for Manchester United.[91] Three days later he reached 49 goals for the season, by scoring another hat-trick in a 4–0 home win against Getafe. On May 15, after scoring 2 free-kick goals in a 3–1 win over Villarreal, he equalled the La Liga record with most goals in a season with 38, a record previously held by Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sánchez. He also became the Pichichi Trophy record holder with the most goals in a season, as Marca included the goal scored on 18 September 2010 away to Real Sociedad, which some sources attribute to Pepe while others attribute it to Ronaldo, which gave Ronaldo 39 goals. On 21 May, he scored two goals in the last league match of the season against Almería, taking his Pichichi total to 41, and La Liga total to 40, becoming the first and only player to score 40 or more goals in a La Liga season. By doing this, he won the European Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different leagues.
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