VOCABULARY

1. milestone - an important stage in the development of something

2. coach - a person who teaches people sports or trains a team; a person who gives extra teaching

3. achieve - to succeed in doing something

4. spell - a period of time spent doing an activity

5. statistic - a fact or piece of information taken from a study

ARTICLE:

At an age when many soccer players are enjoying an easy life away from the pitch, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo continues to reach new milestones.

Early in October, the Portuguese star scored the 700th goal of his club career.

His was Manchester United's second goal, in their English Premier League win against Everton.

Writing on Instagram, where he has 487 million followers, Ronaldo thanked his teammates, coaches, friends and family, and said: "What a beautiful number we've achieved together."

Of Ronaldo's 700 goals, 144 have come in his two spells with Manchester United, along with 450 in just 438 games for Real Madrid.

He also scored 101 times for Juventus, in Italy, and five for his first team, Sporting, in Portugal.

Almost 66% of his career goals have been with his right foot, while 17% have come off his left boot, and 16% off his head.

As well as the 700 club goals, he has also scored more than 100 times for Portugal in international matches. And he could add to that total at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which begins in November.

Ronaldo has probably scored more goals in official matches than anyone else who has played the sport.

But it's difficult to be sure — statistics from long ago can be hard to check.

Brazilian World Cup winner Pele says he scored more than 1,200 goals during his career, but some people think that this includes unofficial matches.

The Argentinian Lionel Messi, now playing for Paris Saint-Germain, is not far behind Ronaldo, and could reach 700 club goals before the end of the season.