Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed Raúl’s Real Madrid scoring record in 2015.
Ronaldo became Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer on 12 September 2015, scoring a hat-trick in a 6–0 La Liga victory away to Espanyol. His third goal took his official Madrid total to 230 goals in 203 matches, moving him beyond Raúl, who had scored 228 goals in 741 appearances for the club.
The milestone highlighted the extraordinary scoring rate of Ronaldo’s Madrid career. Raúl had been the club’s record holder for many years and remained one of its defining captains, but Ronaldo needed far fewer matches to overtake him. Ronaldo eventually left Madrid in 2018 after scoring 450 official goals for the club.
Ferenc Puskás and Alfredo Di Stéfano are also legendary Madrid scorers, which makes them plausible distractors. However, Ronaldo’s 2015 record was specifically the club’s overall scoring record, previously held by Raúl; it was not merely a record for league goals or European competition.