SportsNews

The 6 players with more assists than Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid

Published

1 year ago

October 24, 2024

While Cristiano Ronaldo is predominantly known for his goalscoring abilities, he’s racked up an impressive number of assists throughout his career too.

During his nine-year spell with Real Madrid, CR7 produced a total of 120 assists which places him seventh in the all-time rankings for assists at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Using Opta’s criteria for assists, here are the six Real Madrid players with more assists for the club than Ronaldo.

6. Juanito – 122 assists

Real Madrid fans still chant the name of Juanito to this day and for good reason.

Impressively, he managed to produce two more assists than Ronaldo in 37 fewer appearances for the club. Of course, his goalscoring numbers pale in comparison to those of CR7, but his creative numbers are seriously impressive.

The former Spanish international spent 10 years at the club from 1977 to 1987 and he won 10 trophies in that time, including five league titles.

5. Ferenc Puskas – 132 assists

Widely recognised as one of the greatest forwards of all time, Puskas is one of the most complete strikers in the beautiful game’s history.

Along with ranking fifth in Real Madrid’s all-time assists chart, Puskas also ranks as the club’s sixth-highest-scoring player of all time with 242 goals to his name.

Throughout his Real Madrid career, the Hungarian international averaged 1.43 goal contributions per game which is absolutely outrageous.

For context, Ronaldo averaged 1.3 goals and assists per game during his time in Spain.

4. Alfredo Di Stefano – 139 assists

Considered by some as Real Madrid’s greatest player of all time, it should come as no surprise that Di Stefano makes the cut for this list.

The legendary forward spent 11 years at Real Madrid and racked up 447 goal contributions in that time, with 139 of them being assists.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player Real Madrid have sold to the Premier League?

3. Karim Benzema – 149 assists

Benzema is the only player of the modern generation who has outdone Ronaldo with assists in a Real Madrid shirt.

While strikers are usually renowned for their selfishness, that was never the case with Benzema who was often happy to take a backseat to accommodate the likes of Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.

However, that’s not to say that Benzema didn’t score his fair share of goals over the years too. The Frenchman scored a total of 354 goals for the club which ranks him second in the all-time standings.

QUIZ: Can you name every player nominated for the 2022 Ballon d’Or award?

2. Paco Gento – 166 assists

The diminutive forward reaped havoc on La Liga defences from 1953 to 1971 during his mammoth 18-year spell with Real Madrid.

Gento is one of only eight players who have made 600 or more appearances for Real Madrid and he certainly enjoyed plenty of success with the club back in his heyday.

He won a total of 23 trophies during his time in Madrid and produced an impressive 166 assists throughout that period.

1. Michel – 197 assists

Up until this point, no player has been able to match Michel’s record of 197 assists for Real Madrid. Even CR7 finished his Real Madrid career being 77 assists short of the record.

The former Spanish international, who has since gone into football management, spent 12 full seasons with Real Madrid and averaged 16 assists per campaign.

His record of 197 assists is going to take some beating.

SportsNews

EPL: Full list of players leaving for 2025 AFCON

Published

2 days ago

December 13, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

At least 25 players in the Premier League are set to travel for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

Nigeria, Ivory Coast, DR Congo lead the way in terms of players based in the English topflight, with four selected from each club for the AFCON.

FIFA has directed clubs to release the eligible players from Monday, December 15.

Full list of players confirmed

Sunderland (5):
Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Reinildo (Mozambique), Bertrand Traoré (Burkina Faso), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo).

Manchester United (3):
Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco).

Fulham (3):
Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria).

Burnley (3):
Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia).

Nottingham Forest (2):
Ibrahim Sangaré (Ivory Coast), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast).

Brentford (2):
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria).

Manchester City (1):
Omar Marmoush (Egypt),

West Ham United (1):
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)

Wolves (2):
Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast).

Brighton & Hove Albion (1):
Carlos Baleba (Cameroon).

Crystal Palace (2):
Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal), Cheick Doucouré (Mali)

Liverpool (1):
Mohammed Salah (Egypt)

SportsNews

NNL bars fans from Ranchers Bees vs Adamawa United

Published

2 days ago

December 13, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

The Nigeria National League, NNL, has announced that matchday six fixture between Ranchers Bees and Adamawa United will be played behind closed doors.

The announcement was made in a statement by the league body.

Only the State Football Association representatives, staff of both teams, kit managers and medical personnel will be allowed into the stadium.

Others are the match officials, security personnel and camera men.

The reason for the decision to play the game without club supporters wasn’t stated by the league body.

The encounter will take place at the Bako Kontagora Stadium in Minna on Saturday (today).

SportsNews

Nigeria vs Egypt Friendly Gets New Date

Published

7 days ago

December 8, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

Nigeria’s preparations for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations have taken a fresh hit, with Egypt confirming that the highly anticipated friendly between both nations has been shifted from 14 to 16 December.

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced the adjustment late Friday, noting that FIFA’s updated international release directive, which allows clubs keep African players until 15 December, made the original date unworkable.

EFA Vice President Khaled El-Darandaly explained that the new rule left both Egypt and Nigeria without full squads for the initial date.

Key Pharaohs players, including Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, are now expected to arrive only after the new release window.

Egypt had already named its 28-man provisional squad and opened camp in Cairo, with head coach Hossam Hassan accelerating final preparations for a Group B campaign that includes South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe.

Nigeria’s disruption is more extensive. The Super Eagles were originally scheduled to open camp on 10 December and progress through a streamlined friendly schedule before departing for Morocco. That entire framework has now been dismantled.

Under the revised timeline, camp will open on 14 December, leaving Eric Chelle with barely a week to prepare before AFCON kicks off.

The venue for the friendly is also now uncertain, with Cairo no longer feasible and both federations considering shifting the match to Morocco.

Nigeria’s build-up has been further destabilised by injuries to Ola Aina, Taiwo Awoniyi, Benjamin Fredrick and Felix Agu.

The shock retirement of captain William Troost-Ekong, winner of the 2023 AFCON Player of the Tournament award, creates an additional leadership vacuum in defence.

Chelle, who released a 55-man provisional list, must now trim his squad to 28 within a compressed window. Nigeria will compete in Group C alongside Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania as they chase a fourth continental title.