In Cristiano Ronaldo's last eight Champions League matches, since last year's quarter finals, the Portuguese star has not been short of goals.
His opponents, apart from arguably APOEL Nicosia, have all been of the highest level: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham. The only game in which he has failed to score is the return leg of the semi final against Atletico.
There was no real need for him to score in that second leg, after he effectively ended the tie as a context by scoring a hat-trick in the 3-0 first-leg victory. Although, being fair, Los Blancos could have done with his goalscoring touch after Atletico took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter of an hour, but Isco was on hand to make it 2-1 and cool and nerves for the away side.
In those 7 of the 8 matches, Ronaldo's total of a whopping 15 goals is split between two hat-tricks, four braces and a solitary goal against Tottenham. Only his goal against Spurs and one of the two against APOEL were from the penalty spot.
They are dizzying figures which are pretty difficult, if not impossible, to match. But the 32-year-old striker, like his club Real Madrid, has a special bond with the Champions League. He has that extra motivation which allows him to achieve extraordinary things in the competition.