Time is now to bet on Ronaldo to be Champions League top scorer

Cristiano Ronaldo has already scored a hat-trick on his first Champions League start this season away in Galatasaray and there will be many punters believing that he will repeat the feat back at the Bernabeu against anticipated Group B whipping boys Copenhagen.

Since the Champions League took on its current guise, only Lionel Messi has previously managed to score more than one hat-trick in a single season, when netting three against Viktoria Plzen in the group stages in 2011/12 and then putting five past Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16.

However, Ronaldo could be the first to do so in successive fixtures and his price does seem particularly short at 7/2 to score a hat-trick against Copenhagen.

This is especially true as the Danish opposition have not conceded more than twice in any of their last 34 away games in all competitions since April 2012 and not in their last 10 road trips in the Champions League.

Alternatively, Ronaldo is 1/6 to score at any time in the 90 minutes against Copenhagen and 7/4 to open the scoring.

Given that Messi, who also scored a hat-trick in his first game with Ajax, missed the victory over Celtic through injury, there is an opportunity here for Ronaldo to grab the initiative in the early race to be the competition’s top scorer.

Therefore, the best bet ahead of Real Madrid’s clash with Copenhagen could prove the 13/8 that Ronaldo is crowned the Champions League top scorer for the second season in succession.

The Portuguese frontman had scored 12 goals in six games for club and country before Real Madrid were completely shut out by neighbours Atletico in their last fixture, but it is hard not to foresee him helping himself to at least one against Copenhagen.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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