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Cristiano Ronaldo's best Real Madrid moments in El Clásico

When looking at El Clásico legends, it is hard to look much further than Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese superstar moved to Real Madrid in 2009 from Manchester United and spent nine hugely successful years there.

Ronaldo played in 30 Clásico clashes in all competitions, scoring 18 goals, which have brought about some of the most iconic moments in the history of the biggest match in football.

We take a walk down memory lane to recall Cristiano Ronaldo's best moments in El Clásico.

The first taste of El Clásico blood

Ronaldo initially had a troubling start to life in El Clásico, losing all three clashes, which all came in LaLiga, with Madrid failing to score in any of them.

After losing 5-0 at Camp Nou earlier in the 2010/11 season, Madrid were desperate for revenge under Jose Mourinho.

They were unable to avenge that embarrassing defeat but, courtesy of Ronaldo's penalty in the 82nd minute, they were able to prevent Barça doing the double over them in consecutive seasons.

Ronaldo had lift off in El Clásico and him scoring against the old foe would quickly become all too common.

A trending theme emerging

Just four days later and Ronaldo's taste for scoring against Barcelona grew in the Copa del Rey final.

Level after 90 minutes, it appeared the game was heading towards a stalemate and the dreaded penalty shootout.

That was until Ronaldo headed in an Ángel Di María cross after 103 minutes of action to hand Madrid the trophy -- which was Ronaldo's first in white.

'Calma Calma'

The following season, Madrid under Mourinho were unstoppable and went on to reach 100 points, scoring 121 goals in the process.

The most important win in that run came at the Camp Nou in April 2012, where Barcelona had to win to have a chance of derailing Real's title charge.

Sami Khedira put Real into the lead, before Alexis Sanchez's equaliser 20 minutes from time set up a dramatic climax.

Three minutes later, up steps Ronaldo, who was played through by Mesut Ozil and the Portuguese calmly rounded Victor Valdes, before slotting into an empty net for his 42nd league goal of the season and deploying his infamous 'calma, calma' celebration, which effectively sealed the title.

Messi 2-2 Ronaldo

The following season saw one of the most enthralling El Clásico matches as Barcelona and Madrid played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Camp Nou.

This was also a game that was as much about the two Spanish giants as it was about each side's protagonist as Lionel Messi and Ronaldo cancelled each other out.

Ronaldo scored first after 22 minutes but Messi struck with two goals either side of half time, including a wonderful free-kick to put Barça into a 2-1 lead.

Six minutes later though and Ronaldo replied with a second of his own as the Ronaldo and Messi rivalry intensified.

A brace to dump out your rivals

Real met Barcelona in the 2012/13 Copa del Rey semifinal, a year after Barcelona had triumphed at the same stage.

A 1-1 draw in the first leg left the game on a knife edge heading to Camp Nou.

It wasn't tense for long though, as Ronaldo scored twice inside the first hour, before Raphaël Varane put the game beyond doubt and Real advanced to the Copa del Rey final at the expense of their bitter rivals.

Late winner in battle of two of the great teams

The 2015/16 season saw both Madrid and Barça at their very best and pitted two iconic attacking trios against each other.

MSN (Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar) took on BBC (Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Ronaldo) ahead of legendary midfields which included Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

That day in April 2016, it proved to be all about the Real front three, as Benzema levelled the scores, before Ronaldo got onto the end of a Gareth Bale cross five minutes from time as the Portuguese once again silenced the Camp Nou crowd.

The last hurrah

Bizarrely, Ronaldo had two quiet Clásicos the season before, despite Real winning LaLiga.

In his last Clasico though, he left his mark on the fixture as he scored after 14 minutes at Camp Nou, a ground he had made a habit of scoring in.

Ronaldo would later be forced off injured and the game would end in a 2-2 draw but it was fitting that he was on the scoresheet in his final Clásico.