OMNISPORT

Cristiano Ronaldo spoke of his pride after he moved past 500 career goals and equaled Raul's Real Madrid goal-scoring record against Malmo on Wednesday.

The forward scored with a clinical finish after Isco's pass 29 minutes in before his last-minute close-range strike from Lucas Vazquez's cross took him to 501 career goals and his Madrid tally to 323 strikes.

That means he is tied atop the Santiago Bernabeu scoring charts and reached the total in 308 games, while the icnonic Raul — who has already congratulated the former Manchester United star — took 741 matches. 

Ronaldo, 30, has fond memories of playing in Sweden, having scored a famous hat trick in a World Cup qualification playoff for Portugal in 2013 and will now set his sights on breaking the record outright next time out against Atletico Madrid. 

"It's not bad, eh? It is a great achievement," Ronaldo said. "I am so happy and so proud to beat this record. I am delighted to do it and make Real Madrid history. That was not something I thought of doing when I arrived. Raul has talked with me and he congratulated me. I know he did it from the heart."

The battling win puts Madrid on six points from two Champions League Group A matches, while Malmo is pointless, having also lost 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in its other match.

Ronaldo continued: "It was great to win, which is the most important thing. It was great to be here. It is not my first time. I was here playing against Sweden and have fantastic memories when I scored goals, so I am so glad to come here and score again. It is a happy place for me. 

"We have six points and are top of the group, so we are happy. The game was a little bit tough. We knew that Malmo were playing behind the lines of the pitch, so we knew it would be difficult. But I think the team played good, we controlled the game over 90 minutes and we scored two goals, so we are happy. It is not easy to play here. The pitch is a little bit small, but it was good."