By Toby Prince
Another piece of Real Madrid history awaits Cristiano Ronaldo as he can become the club’s all-time leading scorer when they host Granada at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Ronaldo is officially just two goals shy of Raul Gonzalez Blanco’s 323-goal record despite having played over 400 games fewer than the Spanish legend.
However, the club claim he is just one goal behind Raul as they credited Ronaldo with a goal back in 2010 that was awarded to Pepe in the referee’s report.
The World Player of the Year has struck eight times in his last two games to categorically silence critics for his slow start to the campaign as he failed to score in either of Madrid’s opening two La Liga fixtures or in two games for Portugal.
Ronaldo hit five goals in the same game for the second time in five months in a 6-0 rout at Espanyol last weekend and Granada will fear the worst as they were the previous recipients of a five-goal haul in a 9-1 humiliation at the Bernabeu back in April.
“I am happy, it is a proud moment for me to be in this position,” Ronaldo said after netting his 33rd hat-trick for the club against Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek.
“I have to thank the team; they helped me a huge amount.
“Before I was bad and now I am good because I have scored eight goals,” he added in a thinly veiled dig at his critics.
“My teammates believe in me, they give me the service with which I scored goals.”
Ronaldo will, though, be devoid of some of Madrid’s key creators with Gareth Bale having joined James Rodriguez on the sidelines due to injury.
