Cristiano Ronaldo

NAPLES, Italy — Lorenzo Insigne's first-half penalty earned Napoli a 1-0 home win over Juventus in Serie A on Saturday, with a first defeat in eight in all competitions leaving the champions seven points behind league leaders AC Milan in the standings.

Veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini was penalised for a foul on Napoli's Amir Rrahmani in the penalty area to concede a 31st-minute spot kick, which Insigne converted to score what proved to be the winner and his 100th goal in all competitions for Napoli.

The cliché suggests Cristiano Ronaldo is aging like a fine wine. But we might have to rethink that aphorism to say fine wines age like Cristiano Ronaldo. No matter how old he gets, he just seems to keep getting better. Before turning 30 he scored 0.64 goals per game; since turning 30 he’s scoring better than 0.92 goals per game. 

It’s been decreed by content creators across the land: Cristiano Ronaldo, with his 760th career goal, is now the top scoring player in soccer history, and there’s nothing Pelé can do now except bow to B/R Football’s use of the goat emoji. 

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— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 20, 2021

There’s no telling what records Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will break in any given week — it’s entirely up to statisticians as to how they want to morph it at this point (most goals on a Tuesday, most goals with a common denominator of five scored across three leagues, most goals by a JUST RETWEET THIS POST GODDAMMIT).

It’s a testament to both the consistent longevity of their greatness and the somewhat curious cases of the historical players they rival, namely Josef Bican and Pelé. 

In the year 2021, Lionel Messi will turn 34 while Cristiano Ronaldo turns 36 in just one month’s time. Playing in their first matches of the New Year on Sunday, the duo showed just how important they remain to their respective clubs by providing match-winning moments.

Over in Spain, Messi returned from his extended winter break to appear in his 500th LaLiga match for Barcelona. He’s the first non-Spanish player to reach the milestone, and among active players, only Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos (505) and Real Betis’ Joaquín (565) have more.  

Fiorentina handed Juventus its first defeat of the season on Tuesday by entering Turin — where they previously hadn’t won in over 12 years — and walking out with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

PARMA, Italy — Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, taking his Serie A tally for the season to 12, as defending champions Juventus cruised to a 4-0 win at Parma on Saturday.

Juve's 42-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon prevented Parma from taking an early lead when he saved with his legs from Juraj Kucka's close-range effort before the Turin side took complete control.

Dejan Kulusevski, who played for Parma last season, fired Juventus in front in the 23rd minute and Ronaldo headed the second three minutes later.