Five different ways Cristiano Ronaldo scores with headers

4:00am on Monday 28th September 2020
By Martin Macdonald

Cristiano Ronaldo is many people's definition of the complete footballer.

It remains a laboured argument as to who is best between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and although the Argentine certainly outshines his rival in many areas, CR7's heading is, perhaps, one of the best we've ever seen.

You can find many of his headers featured as FootballCritic listed his 50 Greatest Goals of all Time.

In the video below produced by performance scientist Dr. Rajpal Brar, you will see five very different Ronaldo techniques analysed.

1. Vertical leap, single leg power jump, two leg drop jump

An example of this would be Ronaldo’s stunning, leaping header against Sampdoria, as he hangs in the hair before guiding a header into the roof of the net.

For this particular header, he is 2.56m from the ground at contact point with the ball - a truly prodigious leap.

2. Horizontal leap, single leg speed jump

CR7 has scored this type of header numerous times, as he waits patiently in the middle or back of the box before darting ahead of his marker to glance home.

3. Balanced leap, right-left step pattern, 2-leg jump

This would be a combination of the first two, as he uses the momentum gathered from his horizontal sprint forward to thrust himself further into the air.

4. Horizontal thrust, two-legged jump with coordinated torso lean

A more conventional type of header, this, but as you can see in the video Ronaldo gains a huge amount of power by jerking himself forward to meet the ball.

5. Fearless

This is the type of header in which Ronaldo stands apart, as he regularly puts his head into dangerous positions. The best example of this would be his famous, brave header against Roma in the quarter-final of the Champions League as he jumps through numerous bodies to slam a header home.

Here's the clip - Dr Brar can be found on Twitter here.