Cristiano Ronaldo returned from a short injury lay-off to score in Juventus’ 1-1 draw against Ajax in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
On the stroke of half-time, Ronaldo went romping unhindered through the middle to head Joao Cancelo’s impish through-ball past Andre Onana and score his 125th goal in the Champions League (in just 161 games).
"He is a flying phenomenon!"
"He is the King of Europe!"
1️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ Champions League goals for Cristiano Ronaldo!
Incredible. What a header! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8fWe016yJK
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) 10 April 2019
As proved time and time over, Ronaldo certainly is the man for the big occasion, with the Portuguese stud tallying twice as many Champions League knockout-phase goals on his lonesome than Ajax have amassed collectively…
Ronaldo has more than twice as many career UCL knockout stage goals (64) than Ajax does as a club (31). 😲 pic.twitter.com/8VhsHNPvms
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) 10 April 2019
However, after the restart the Dutch side wasted precious little time digging themselves out an equaliser against the Old Lady.
Indeed, David Neres squared things up less than a minute into the second half with a delightfully floaty solo effort…
What a game this is! 🙌
Ronaldo scores with the last kick of the first half…
Ajax equalise 30 seconds into the second half!
Quality strike 👌pic.twitter.com/NvXj10qN0S
— BT Sport (@btsport) 10 April 2019
And that’s precisely how it finished in Amsterdam, with honours even.
Could go either way when both teams try to wrap it up in Turin next Tuesday, but Ronaldo is surely likely to play a considerable part once again.