Cristiano Ronaldo's 'Volleyed Penalty' Still Leaves People Baffled Four Years On

Cristiano Ronaldo once scored a 'volleyed' penalty, that can only be described as some sort of magic (or by a scientist but that's not as romantic).

Ronaldo, or Penaldo as he's more commonly known, has scored an incredible 143 times from the spot in his career, which is a lot but then again he has scored a record breaking 807 goals.

There isn't usually anything extraordinary about scoring a penalty and more so about missing them, just ask Jorginho after Italy's World Cup elimination, but in typical fashion, Ronaldo managed to find a way of surprising us.

Back in 2018, the Portuguese superstar, who it's been confirmed is 'f***ing annoying by Wayne Rooney, stepped for a spot kick in a Champions League clash vs Paris Saint-Germain and dispatched it perfectly.

Alphonse Areola had no chance in the PSG net and that could be down to Ronaldo's unique and quite extraordinary technique.

Just before striking the ball, Ronaldo managed to make it bobble in the air before firing home with venom, and it was all without touching the ball twice.

At the time no one was quite sure how the hell it all happened, with the pundits in the BT Studio having to pour over the footage just to confirm if he'd touched the ball twice.

Fortunately, on punditry that night was Rio Ferdinand, and the centre back, who would could £132.5 million in today's transfer market, claimed that his former Manchester United teammate had done the trick in training previously.

"He used to do that in training, you know. I'm not saying he did it there but he did used to do it.

"I swear to ya. Crazy. He used to do it."

Ronaldo strikes his penalty against PSG. Image: PA Images

So baffling was the penalty that it needed an actual scientist to explain what in the world had gone on, as Real beat PSG 3-1 on the night.

INews spoke to John Eric Goff, Professor of Physics at Lynchburg College in the USA to nail exactly how Ronaldo's 'volley penalty' worked.

"Ronaldo's right boot makes contact with the ball, which is approximately one centimeter off the main part of the pitch (though the ball is still tickled by a blade of grass)," Professor Goff begun.

"My height estimate is an upper limit based on the ball having a diameter of about 22 centimeters.

"Ronaldo's left boot clearly does not make contact with the ball. It looks to be about 13 centimeters from the ball when he kicks it.

The ball bounces up as Ronaldo goes to strike the ball. Image: BT Sport

"To me, this 'black magic' looks like the contact force from his left boot initiated a pressure wave in the turf, which then transferred some of its energy to the ball. The ball could move upward if the turf could crumple slightly under the ball.

"Was the ball placed at a fortuitous location on the pitch? Sure! Did anyone know that ahead of time? I've no idea.

"Was Ronaldo thinking that he could get the ball to pop up slightly? I've no idea."

As much as Rio said it was on purpose, we've never seen him do it since. Come on Ronaldo, it's been four years, get a move on!