There’s been a bit of confusion this week over exactly how many goals Cristiano Ronaldo has scored for Real Madrid, as the club itself came out and reported that Ronaldo was now their outright top goalscorer ever with 324 goals.

At the same time, almost everyone else (this website included) was reporting that his brace in the Champions League on Wednesday meant his total tally stands at 323 goals for Real Madrid (not 324), bringing him level with Raul.

Real Madrid even held a special tribute for CR7 today where he was presented with a unique trophy honouring his new record as the club’s top scorer – a trophy which was inscribed with “324 goals”.

The confusion arises from a free kick scored in September 2010 against Real Sociedad. Real Madrid and Diario Marca (a Spanish sports newspaper) credit the goal to Ronaldo, whereas Liga de Fútbol Profesional (La Liga) awarded the goal to team mate Pepe, who deflected Ronaldo’s strike into the goal.

La Liga’s decision is the official one and the official records will reflect that, but Real Madrid are clearly sticking by their guns. See the goal for yourself and make your own mind up…

Watch the goal here (at 0:29):

It’s interesting that the world seemed to agree before the Malmo game on Wednesday that Ronaldo was on 499 career goals and his next would be his 500th. Why weren’t Real Madrid celebrating 500 career goals way before Wednesday?

Even Ronaldo said to an interviewer after the game who congratulated him on scoring 500 goals that he “believes it’s 501 now”… not 502 as it would be if Real Madrid’s figure were to be believed.

We’re sticking with the official records of course, which state that Ronaldo has scored 323 goals (not 324) in 308 appearances for Real Madrid, and 501 career goals (not 502).