Ronaldo equals Puskas goal scoring record

As it turned out, Cristiano Ronaldo was Real Madrid’s hero once more on Tuesday as the club completed a convincing Champions League win over Schalke, but the serious injury sustained by teammate Jese showed why the Portuguese superstar shouldn’t have been playing in the first place.

The 3-1 second-leg victory was largely irrelevant in the wider context, with the plight of the 21-year-old in the forefront of most people’s minds reports he has damaged cruciate ligaments in his right knee.

But what the misfortune of the young Spaniard did highlight was the fact that accidents can happen at any time, and Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to play Ronaldo for the full 90 minutes despite already having a five-goal buffer could easily have seen Madrid suffer an even bigger loss. It also brought into question the real motivation for coach and player five days before a crucial Clasico encounter against Barcelona.

If it is records Ronaldo is after, he’s doing a very good job. His brace against Schalke takes him to 13 Champions League goals this term, putting him just one behind Lionel Messi’s high mark in 2011-12. He also went level with Ferenc Puskas in fourth place on the list of Real Madrid’s greatest ever goalscorers with 242. As a record-breaker, he is pretty much unstoppable.

But one way his seemingly inexorable run of goalscoring form could come to an end is by injury, and had it been Ronaldo on the end of Sead Kolasinac’s second-minute challenge rather than Jese, then Madrid’s season could suddenly have been thrown into turmoil.

Losing Jese is undoubtedly a huge blow to the club as it looks to continue his development into a world-class footballer, but the loss of Ronaldo would have had far greater connotations over the remainder of the season.

Jese was brought in alongside the likes of Nacho, Asier Illarramendi, Isco and Fabio Coentrao to protect the star investments that will be expected to line up against Barcelona on Sunday. Yet the biggest asset of them all, the one man whose presence on Sunday and beyond will give them an infinitely greater chance of a fantastic treble, was out there for the full 90 minutes.

Risking the Ballon d’Or winner for a dead rubber made no sense from the club’s point of view. The very fact that the likes of Angel di Maria, Gareth Bale, Pepe, Alvaro Arbeloa and Luka Modric were not in the starting XI was proof that Carlo Ancelotti knew it too. But Ronaldo’s quest for history is seemingly bigger than the club.

What would have been the fallout had Ronaldo been the one stretchered off five minutes into a game Madrid already led 6-1 and missed the Clasico, the Liga run, the Copa del Rey final and the Champions League’s business end as a result? It would have been unthinkable.

Instead Ronaldo continues to play every minute he can in a bid to prove that he can outscore, outrun and outmuscle everyone else. So far, Madrid has gotten away with it. So far!

If you continually play with fire, you will almost certainly get burnt in the end. Madrid just got lucky that this time they came away unscathed, five days before the world’s biggest fireworks display comes to town.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid cruised into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 9-2 aggregate victory over Schalke thanks to a 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.

However, victory came at a cost for Los Blancos as promising forward Jese Rodriguez suffered a suspected cruciate ligament injury early on in the game. Ronaldo put Real ahead on the night when he swept home Gareth Bale's low cross on 21 minutes, but Tim Hoogland's deflected effort brought the visitors level before half-time.

It took until 16 minutes from time for Ronaldo to put Madrid back in front as he collected a loose ball from Bale and stormed forward to drill low into the net for his 13th Champions League goal of the season. And Bale was the creator once more for his side's third moments later when he squared for Alvaro Morata to fire home after Ronaldo had struck the bar.

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti had named a weakened side with one eye on Sunday's crucial La Liga clash against Barcelona. However, the Italian was forced to introduce Bale inside the first 10 minutes when Jese had to be stretchered off after appearing to suffer a serious knee injury as he challenged for the ball with Sead Kolasinac on the right.

Bale replaced the Spanish under-21 international and injected plenty of pace into Madrid's play for the rest of the half. The Welshman teed up Ronaldo for the opener as he received Morata's pass and squared for the Portuguese to tap into an empty net.

Morata should have doubled his side's advantage six minutes later after a wonderful run and cross by Bale, but he skewed horribly wide with just Ralf Fahrmann to beat. Against the run of play, Schalke were back on level terms just after the half hour mark when Hoogland wandered forward from right-back and saw his shot deflect off Sergio Ramos and past the flat-footed Iker Casillas.

Fahrmann then made a hat-trick of saves to keep his side from going in behind at the break as he denied Isco, Morata and Nacho. And the Bundesliga side could even have been in front at the break as former Real striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar slotted the ball inches past the far post from Max Meyer's through ball.

Fahrmann was a busy man in the second period too as he made a fantastic save to turn a Ronaldo header over before denying Isco from close range. Ronaldo did finally put the hosts back in front as he drove at the Schalke defense before firing low past the helpless Fahrmann. And Morata got the confidence boast he needed two minutes later when Bale unselfishly squared after Ronaldo had struck the bar.

Ronaldo came within inches of his hat-trick and equaling Lionel Messi's record of 14 Champions League goals in a season again seven minutes from time, but he had to settle for just a double on the night as his low left-footed effort came back off the post and rebounded to safety.