Cristiano Ronaldo is a player from another era

By the time that Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Real Madrid he will be 36 years and four months old, an age that few footballers have achieved at the club and, in fact, one needs to hark back to another era altogether to find players who were still playing for Los Blancos at the top level well into their mid-thirties. In the last decade alone, only the Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek can boast of having played for Real at such an advanced age. The Portuguese will be placed on a list of players headed by Ferenc Puskas, as the oldest to have defended the Real Madrid shirt.

Puskas was 38 years and 233 days old before hanging up his boots and is followed in the list by Buyo, Dudek, Di Stefano, Gento, Miguel Angel Pena, Amancio, Ipina and Santamaria. Ronaldo, should he play until the end of his contract, would overtake Chendo, Quincoces, Miguel Munoz, Manolo Sanchis, Santillana, Fernando Hierro, Zidane and Gordillo. Other charismatic players such as Butragueno, Raul and Iker Casillas had already left the club before reaching their 35th birthday.