The 15 biggest defeats of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career: Liverpool & Al-Hilal feature twice…

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest footballers of all time, but even CR7 has been on the receiving end of some thrashings over the years.

The Portuguese forward has certainly won more games than he’s lost throughout his career, but there are a few standout losses on his track record that we’ve taken a closer look at in this article.

Taking into consideration Ronaldo’s record at club and international level, here are the 15 biggest defeats of his career so far.

Al-Hilal 3-0 Al-Nassr (December, 2023)

Ronaldo still hasn’t got his hands on a major trophy since arriving in Saudi Arabia and that’s largely thanks to the dominance of Al-Hilal.

When the two sides met in December last year, it wasn’t much of a contest as Jorge Jesus’ side ran out as 3-0 winners. They then went on the win the league and went unbeaten throughout the entire campaign.

Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United (March 2004)

Throughout Ronaldo’s career, he’s managed to get the better of Man City on nine separate occasions, but that wasn’t the case in March 2004.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were going through a transitional period at the time and they were well-beaten in the Manchester derby that year.

Middlesbrough 4-1 Manchester United (October 2005)

In fairness to Ronaldo, he only played the last 31 minutes of this game and did score a consolation goal for United after being introduced from the bench.

However, despite Ronaldo’s best efforts to turn the game around, he still lost by a three-goal margin.

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool (March 2009)

Ronaldo gave United the lead from the penalty spot after 22 minutes, but Liverpool quickly flipped the scoreline on its head.

Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres stole the show as Liverpool left Old Trafford with a memorable 4-1 triumph.

Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid (April 2013)

Ronaldo hasn’t lost many Champions League semi-finals over the years, but 2012-13 was a different story as Borussia Dortmund pulled off a vintage performance to beat Jose Mourinho’s side.

CR7 did get himself on the scoresheet, but Robert Lewandowski had the last laugh as he bagged four goals for himself on the night.

Then despite Real Madrid winning the reverse fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu, Dortmund held on and won the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

Watford 4-1 Manchester United (November 2021)

This result proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the United head coach was dismissed shortly after the 4-1 defeat.

Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes and did provide an assist for Donny van de Beek, but he probably won’t have many fond memories of this fixture.

Al-Hilal 4-1 Al-Nassr (August 2024)

After losing the Saudi Super Cup final to arch-rivals Al-Hilal, it’s safe to say that Ronaldo lost his head with his teammates in this one.

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Germany 4-0 Portugal (June 2014)

Portugal didn’t manage to make it out of the group stages at the 2014 World Cup and they were well-beaten by the eventual winners in their opening game.

Ronaldo himself wasn’t fully fit for the tournament and it soon became clear that Portugal themselves weren’t up to the required level.

Thanks to a Thomas Muller hat-trick, Germany saw off Portugal with ease.

Atletico Madrid 4-0 Real Madrid (February 2015)

Ronaldo has scored 25 goals against Atletico Madrid throughout his career, but he struggled to make an impact when he came up against them in February 2015.

This 4-0 loss ended up being particularly costly for Real Madrid as they ended up losing out on the La Liga title by a single point come the end of the season. Ouch.

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Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona (November 2015)

Rafael Benitez probably knew that his days as Real Madrid boss were numbered as his side were well-beaten by Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes, but it was Luis Suarez and Neymar who stole the show on this occasion.

Brighton 4-0 Manchester United (May 2022)

The Red Devils ended the 2021-22 campaign in miserable form as they lost six of their last 11 league matches.

Undoubtedly, the most humbling defeat came at the American Express Stadium as Brighton bossed the fixture and beat Ronaldo’s side by four goals.

Brentford 4-0 Manchester United (August 2022)

The Erik ten Hag’s era got off to the worst start possible, after losing their season opener against Brighton, they were then humiliated by Brentford in the second game of the season.

Ronaldo’s relationship with Ten Hag seemed frosty from the start and this 4-0 thumping by Brentford probably didn’t do much to ease the tensions between them.

Brazil 6-2 Portugal (November 2008)

Brazil’s Luis Fabiano took centre stage as his hat-trick wrapped up an emphatic 6-2 triumph for Brazil.

Given it was only an international friendly, it probably didn’t take Ronaldo that long to get over this one.

Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid (November 2010)

Undoubtedly, the most one-sided El Clasico we have seen in modern history. Despite Real Madrid having a world-class player in pretty much every position, Barcelona were simply too good for them.

Pep Guardiola’s side took the lead after just nine minutes and they continued to pile the pressure on throughout the entire 90 minutes.

Manchester United 0-5 Liverpool (October 2021)

A day to forget for every United and Ronaldo fan.

CR7 played the entire 90 minutes but was merely a bystander as Jurgen Klopp’s side ran riot at Old Trafford. Ronaldo himself was shown a yellow card for kicking out at Curtis Jones and was probably fortunate to not receive a red.

Overall, it was a pretty miserable afternoon for Ronaldo and co.