Cristiano Ronaldo struck a penalty so hard that it injured Willy Caballero in 2013

Cristiano Ronaldo knows how to strike a football.

It’s one thing to score more than 800 career goals, but it’s another thing entirely to have amassed so many of them in extraordinary fashion.

Yes, the Manchester United star will gobble up tap-ins until he’s blue in the face – which striker wouldn’t? – but let’s not pretend as though he hasn’t always had an eye for the spectacular.

Whether it’s the knuckle-ball free-kicks of his first spell at Old Trafford or his long-range rockets at Real Madrid, Ronaldo has brought millions of people to their feet by scoring wonder goals across his illustrious career.

And although the world-class technique that goes into each and every one of them is frankly beyond our feeble mind, there’s no denying that there’s something to be said for pure power.

One look at the rippling muscles of Ronaldo‘s thighs and you quickly understand why his strikes from distance have enough power behind them to make you wonder why goalkeepers even bother.

And having that extra injection of power is useful from every distance because it can be just as effective as ensuring that a close-range finish beats the ‘keeper as it can be for scoring from 30 yards.

Besides, the very power that has allowed Ronaldo to bag so many Puskas Award contenders is also a skill that has helped him to thump home penalties as though the net owes him money.

In fact, you only have to look at one spot-kick from Ronaldo’s time in Spain to get a real sense of the power in his right boot because it was enough to leave the goalkeeper injured. Yeh, seriously.

Back in the 2012/13 season, Ronaldo was living his best life in a 6-2 win over Malaga where he scored an emphatic indirect free-kick past Willy Caballero to move to 200 goals for Los