What is Cristiano Ronaldo’s biggest defeat?
Robin Bairner
- 13 Aug 2022 22:41 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United’s 4-0 loss against Brentford on Saturday rates as one of the worst defeats of Cristiano Ronaldo’s whole career.
The Portuguese attacker has been a professional since 2002 but is not a player who is used to being on the wrong end of big scorelines.
Few losses will have been more embarrassing for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, though, as a side tipped for relegation scored four times in the first half to leave Ronaldo and his team-mates looking out of their depth.
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Josh Dasilva opened the scoring after 10 minutes before Mathias Jensen added a second shortly after the quarter-of-an-hour mark. Two goals in the space of five minutes from Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo pushed the game out of sight before half-time was even imminent.
Indeed, Ronaldo has only twice suffered biggest defeats in his whole career than the 4-0 reverse that Erik ten Hag’s men endured at the Brentford Community Stadium on Saturday.
The Portuguese has, however, twice suffered 5-0 losses in his career. One of these, of course, came last season when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were dismantled by Liverpool at home. The other was the 2010 Clasico when one of the all-time great Barcelona teams produced a blistering performance to blow away Ronaldo’s Real Madrid.
Even two of the three 4-0 losses he has suffered at club level came for Real Madrid against top-level opponents in the form of Atletico Madrid and Barca.
The other of these heavy losses? That embarrassing end-of-season rout at Brighton as Ralf Rangnick limped to the end of his tenure.
It is testimony to the quality of Ronaldo’s career that he has only been on the end of six defeats of four goals or more, yet it is damning that three of these have come in the last year with Man Utd.
Ronaldo’s biggest losses
- Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid, 29 November, 2010
- Manchester United 0-5 Liverpool, 24 October, 2021
- Atletico Madrid 4-0 Real Madrid, 7 February, 2015
- Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona, 21 November, 2015
- Brighton 4-0 Manchester United, 7 May, 2022
- Brentford 4-0 Manchester United, 13 August, 2022
Cristiano Ronaldo’s biggest international defeat
Playing for Portugal, Ronaldo has twice lost matches by two goals. The first of these came in a friendly against Brazil in 2008, which ended in a spectacular 6-2 scoreline.
The other occasion that he was on the wrong end of a four-goal thrashing was at the 2014 World Cup, but at least on that occasion Portugal and Ronald were defeated 4-0 by a Germany side that went on to become champions.
Read more about: La Liga, Serie A, Premier League, Juventus, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo
