Ronaldo becomes the first player to win the top 3 leagues in Europe

ROME – The breakthrough under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Then the crowning at Real Madrid. And now, another title to Juventus.

If ever it was necessary to highlight the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo as a footballer, the winner of the Ballon d'Or five times did it again this weekend by helping Juventus to win the Serie A title at its premiere. season in Italy.

In doing so, Ronaldo, 34, became the first player in history to win league titles in English Premier League (with United), Spanish League (Madrid) and Serie A (Juventus).

"I am very happy to have won England, Spain and the Italian Championship title as well," said Ronaldo. "That counted for me and for us as a team."

Other players have won titles in three of the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France), but no one has yet set up the rapprochement with England, Spain and Italy.

David Beckham has played in four of the top leagues but has only won titles at United (six), Madrid (one) and Paris Saint-Germain (one), having failed to win the Serie A trophy. during his two loans to AC Milan.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has won four Serie A titles (three with Inter Milan and one with AC Milan), the Spanish league with Barcelona and four French leagues with PSG.

Brazilian back Maxwell has been part of many of these teams like Ibrahimovic and has also won in Italy, Spain and France.

There was then Arjen Robben, who twice won the Premier League with Chelsea before adding a Spanish title to Real Madrid and seven Bundesliga trophies at Bayern Munich.

Mark van Bommel is another Dutchman who has managed the feat. He has won titles with Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich (two) and AC Milan.

Juventus also won the championship in the seven seasons leading up to Ronaldo's arrival, but its impact in Turin was not in doubt. With 19 goals and six badists in 27 Italian league appearances this season, Ronaldo played a role in nearly 40% of Juventus' goals.

So it's not a surprise if his dangerous center was redirected by a defender as a goal for the winner of Juve's 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Saturday, giving the Bianconeri more than the only point they needed to secure an eighth title consecutive to the record with five laps to play.

This is the sixth title of Ronaldo's career champion.

The first took place at United, at the age of 22 years. He ended a four-year drought for Ferguson's club. Ronaldo scored 17 goals, three less than the best of Didier Drogba, the best goal of the season.

It was just a warm up for what came next.

In 2007-08, Ronaldo led the Premier League with 31 goals and helped United win the league title and the Champions League trophy.

Another Premier League title was won the following season as Ronaldo finished second with 18 goals, just behind Nicolas Anelka, who had 19 for Chelsea.

While Ronaldo had won only two Spanish league titles in nine seasons in Madrid, he also helped the team to win four Champions League trophies, including three consecutive European titles over the course of the season. last three seasons.

When Juventus acquired Ronaldo in a 100 million euro ($ 112 million) transfer last year, it was expected to help end the club's long fight for the trophy. the Champions League.

Ronaldo made his mark by scoring a hat trick to fill the deficit in the first leg against Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 and goals in the two quarterfinal matches against Ajax, but the Bianconeri were still eliminated by the Dutch club.

"Next year is a new page, fans want it and so are we," said Ronaldo. "It's an important trophy, but it's hard to (win)."

A title in the Champions League with Juventus would allow Ronaldo to equal another record of several nations and many teams, joining Clarence Seedorf as the only players to win the trophy with three different clubs.

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