Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the greatest footballer of all time, and the peak of his success came with Real Madrid, where he won four of his five career Champions League titles and four of his five Ballons d’Or.
His most memorable season at Real Madrid is difficult for many to pinpoint, but if you ask most Madridistas, they will readily say that the 2011/12 season was especially remarkable from an individual perspective.
Cristiano was at his sterling best as a goal-scorer and dribbler, producing goals and moments of magic that no other player in history has been capable of on that consistent level.
An entire highlight clip of just his 2011/12 season would take hours to go through and would be more riveting than the entire career highlight reels of most of his peers.
Statistically, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 46 goals with 12 assists in LaLiga, ranking second in Europe’s big five leagues and LaLiga to only Lionel Messi. He also had 12 assists, which ranked fourth in LaLiga and ninth in Europe’s big five.
Cristiano was in the UEFA Team of the Year, taking home LaLiga for Real Madrid as the Merengues finished with a whopping 100 points, nine ahead of a Barcelona side that is widely regarded as the greatest of all time.
So Jose Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Real Madrid clearly triumphed over the best team of all time in 2011/12. It makes you think about how that Real Madrid team should truly be viewed now…
Cristiano averaged 1.6 key passes, 1.9 dribbles completed, and 2.5 fouls drawn per game in LaLiga that season. And in the Champions League, only Messi had more goal contributions, as Ronaldo bagged 10 goals with 3 assists.
Furthermore, Cristiano was on the leaderboard with 2.9 dribbles completed and 2.4 key passes in the Champions League, with Real Madrid only losing on penalties to Bayern Munich in one of the most heartbreaking semifinals of all time.
Cristiano Ronaldo may have missed a penalty in that shootout, but that miss does not mar an incredible statistical season, Real Madrid’s ridiculous domestic achievements in LaLiga, and the way Cristiano responded to that penalty miss by becoming an even more ruthless machine in the UCL thereafter.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.