If there is one thing that Cristiano Ronaldo could not master in his illustrious career, it is the concept of giving up. 

At 39, the age by which most athletes get well-adjusted to their post-retirement lifestyle, Ronaldo is not only achieving greater heights by surpassing himself but also aiming to climb the greatness ladder even higher. 

Almost 22 years after scoring his first career goal as a 17-year-old kid for Sporting Lisbon, Ronaldo reached yet another milestone on Wednesday in front of his home crowd in the very city of Lisbon where he had begun his footballing journey.  

Ronaldo's landmark 900th goal at the Estadio da Luz that helped Portugal commence their UEFA Nations League campaign with a 2-1 win over Croatia was way different than the solo goal he had netted against Moreirense to get things going more than two decades ago. 

His tap-in from a Nuno Mendes cross against the Croats portrays the picture of how gradually over the years he had turned himself into a deadly goal-poacher from the exhilarating winger who had beaten two players with raw pace before pulling off lightning-quick stepovers, fooling the final defender, and placing it beyond the reaches of the Moreirense goalkeeper for his career's opener.     

However, the one aspect of Ronaldo that has not changed yet is his appetite for more records and glory.   

Just about a week ago, Ronaldo talked about his willingness to reach the unprecedented mark of 1000 career goals. "Soon I will do 900, and after I will beat 1,000... I want to reach 1,000 goals," he had said on his official YouTube channel in an interview with former England national team star Rio Ferdinand.

Setting the lofty target of at least scoring another 100 goals even when not in the best of shape might seem like a stretch, but it still somewhat sounds reasonable when it comes from a perennial defier of age and logic like Ronaldo.

Will Ronaldo be able to pull it off? If the Portuguese legend's mentality and staggering career are anything to go by, it would be safe to bet on him rather than against him.