The Portuguese star scored 54 goals in 59 games for his club and country in official competitions, surpassing the likes of Harry Kane from Bayern Munich and Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain (both with 52 goals), and Erling Haaland from Manchester City (with 50 goals). None of these players will have another chance to score in 2023.

This is the fifth time that Ronaldo has been the world’s top scorer in a year, after achieving the same feat in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 when he played for Real Madrid. He has not scored this many goals in a year since 2016, when he netted 55 goals and won one of his five Ballon d’Or awards.

The 38-year-old celebrated his achievement with an Instagram post, saying: “54 – I’ll say when it’s finished! Thanks, team.”

Ronaldo’s goal on Saturday also marked the first anniversary of his move to Al Nassr from Manchester United, which caused a lot of controversy at the time.

Al Nassr were already leading 3-1 thanks to goals from Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte and Otavio when Ronaldo scored with a header from close range in the second minute of added time. He has now scored 20 goals in 18 league games this season.

The victory keeps Al Nassr in second place in the Saudi Pro League table, with 46 points from 19 games, seven points behind the leaders Al Hilal.