Cristiano Ronaldo's record since turning 30 shows he will be the greatest ever goalscorer

When we look in the history books of the beautiful game, we will see Cristiano Ronaldo's face on the front and back cover and everywhere in between. The Portuguese superstar has taken over the world of football and with his 736th goal in football this week, he has now overtaken the great Gerd Muller.

Once again, days out from his 35th birthday, Ronaldo already has 19 goals in 25 appearances for Juventus and recently recorded his 42nd goal during his days as a 34-year-old.

His numbers are what we use to see from the likes of Pele and Josef Bican back when players were unprofessionals and a sport scientist never even existed, and now, he is well on course to become the greatest ever at goalscoring.

It's quite remarkable to think Ronaldo only scored five goals in 30 games for Sporting Lisbon. However, in unrivalled fashion, the Portugal star has 118 goals in 292 appearances for Manchester United, plus 450 in 438 for Real Madrid and 47 in 68 already for Juventus.

Now, ever since turning 30, there is barely a better goalscorer in their thirties than this man. At 30 years old, he bagged 58 goals, 31 he got 54, 32 there were 53, 49 came at 33 years old, and now he's scored 42 as a 34-year-old.

In theory, this does show signs of slowing down, as each age has brought less goals. However, other than his nemesis Lionel Messi, nobody comes close to these numbers in the modern era. Plus, Messi is still 32 until the summer, so it is hard to compare the two in their thirties as of now.

The man who statistically holds the record as the best goalscorer in the sport is the Slavia Prague legend, Bican, netting 805 goals in 530 matches for club and country. However, it is important to remember that Bican played his entire career in Czech Republic and Austria from 1928-1955. Back then, it's tough to say that the standard would have been great, nor would they have been paid for their services.

As mentioned, Muller is already in Ronaldo's shadow, whilst the Juventus man also has more goals than the great Ferenc Puskas in his thirties, as the Hungarian bagged 248 compared to Ronaldo's 252, with Puskas playing until he was 39. Indeed, some legendary figures like Zlatan Ibrahimovic have scored more in their thirties with 316, although, the Swede is three years older than Ronaldo.

Also ahead of the ex-United star is Romario, who bagged 772 times (363 in his thirties), but he bagged all these goals in Brazil, where the standard is no doubt easier.

Of course, no matter what Ronaldo does, Messi will be right there and perhaps even ahead of the former Madrid man. In truth, the Argentine's goalscoring record is significantly better than his rivals, considering he is two years younger.

Messi boats 717 goals in his career to Ronaldo's 736, which means he is just 19 behind with two years on Ronaldo. Plus, it's fair to say that Messi could achieve those 19 goals in half a season.

As of now, the 'CR7' is just ahead of the Barcelona superstar, but things could change somewhere down the line. Although, it's fair to say that Ronaldo is barely slowing down, as he has dedicated himself like no other in order to play for this long. Time will tell if Messi has done the same.

As just alluded to, Ronaldo is not exactly slowing down. Statiscally yes, physically and mentally, no. Right now, we are seeing Ibrahimovic still going, 10 months out from turning 39 and undoubtedly should we expect Ronaldo to do the same.

If you ask any footballer who has played with him and coaches such as Sir Alex Ferguson, they will all say that the forward is the hardest working out there. His former teammate Patrice Evra once touched on his dedicated nature, as he went round for dinner. The meal was bland, yet entirely nutritious and soon after, the two ended up competing in two-touch and swimming not long after they had recently trained. Evra later stated he never went round for dinner ever again.

Should Ronaldo keep going until this age, he could well become the greatest scorer in the history of this sport, as he is just 68 behind Bican. His record in his thirties is all but unrivalled and his time on the pitch, in general, may well be the greatest ever, with little argument against this claim.