Why did R9 have an underwhelming CL goal tally? Well, here’s context. Thread.

He played

• UEFA Cup football in 94/95. 1st season in Europe. 2 games, 3 goals. All comps - 35 goals, 36 games. Team finished 3rd. No CL qualification. Won league golden boot. He was 18. See the gap.

• UEFA Cup football in 95/96. 5 games, 6 goals.

In all comps, 19 goals in 21 games. He was injured for a good chunk of the campaign. Only played 13 league games. Scored 12 goals.

It was time for a transfer. He left PSV as a 19-year old, with 54 goals in 57 games.

He joined Barcelona for a world record fee. They’d finished the previous season in 3rd place. No CL football.

So he played

• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup football in 96/97. 5 goals in 7 games. Winner in final vs PSG.

All comps, 47 goals in 49 games. He won Pichichi. Look at the gap.

When he won the golden boot by 12 goals in PSV, they didn’t win the league. When he won it by 9 goals in Barcelona, they also didn’t win the league. And winning the league was the only way into CL.

So, he had 14 goals in 14 European games. A European trophy. 0 CL appearances.

Then he joined Inter. Another world record fee. Note the lack of stability. He was joining his fourth league just before he turned 21. All highly competitive, top leagues. 2 world record transfers. Unfazed.

Inter hadn’t won the league since 88/89, so no CL football since 89/90.

So once again, no CL football.

Serie A, world’s toughest league where up to 8 teams had world class ballers.

He played

• UEFA Cup football, and he once again won a European trophy. 6 goals in 11 games, 2 in the semi, 1 in the final.

20 goals, 25 European games. 2 trophies.

Inter finished 2nd but qualified for CL because the rules had now been changed. Non-league winners were allowed in. This (98/99) was to be R9’s first CL campaign ever.

It turned out to be his only CL campaign until 2002, because his knees went that season & he was out for years.

Just to add -

He played 6 CL games that season, scoring 1. He played 90 minutes in only one of those 6 games.

In the tie that eliminated his team (vs Man Utd), he played only 59 minutes out of 180.

From 17th March, 1999 - 22nd October, 2002, R9 played a grand total of 0 CL games.

And the 27, 28 and 29 year old versions of him were nowhere near the pre-injury nightmare R9.

Just to add that the UEFA Cup was a big deal, not like this watered down version. It consisted of teams who didn’t win their leagues.

In this current era & season, that would mean Man City, Barcelona, Atleti, Dortmund, Leipzig, Inter, Chelsea et al would be there battling.

Again, this is all just context. It makes the picture clearer. So the next time someone uses this as a stick to beat Mr R9, tell the person to at least see the full the context first.