11 years ago, Ronaldo made history at the stadium where he sat out Portugal training

This Wednesday marks 11 years since Cristiano Ronaldo reached the 500-goal milestone in his career. On September 30, 2015, the forward scored both goals in Real Madrid's Champions League victory in Malmo at the Eleda Stadion, where the Portugal national team has spent the past two days preparing.

In that match, Ronaldo hit the landmark in the 29th minute after being set up by Isto. In the 90th minute, he took his tally to 501 career goals. That campaign would culminate in remarkable fashion for Ronaldo, who went on to win the Champions League, Euro 2016, and the Ballon d'Or.

By a twist of fate, the anniversary of that memorable date falls just a day after Ronaldo returned to the very same ground—even though he did not train there—as Portugal prepare for Thursday's Nations League clash against Denmark. CR7 stepped onto the Eleda Stadion pitch on Tuesday before heading back to the team hotel, a scenario that repeated itself on Wednesday.

Today, Ronaldo is chasing an even more monumental milestone: 1,000 career goals. Currently on 979 and contracted to Al Nassr until the end of the 2026/27 season, he is just 21 goals away from reaching his ultimate career objective. However, having missed out on pitch training for three days, it remains to be seen whether he will feature against Denmark to edge closer to that target.