2012–13 season

On 23 August 2012, Ronaldo scored his first goal of the season against Barcelona in the first leg of the 2012 Supercopa de España at Camp Nou, which made him the first Madrid player in the history of El Clásico to score for the fourth game in a row at the Camp Nou.^[112] Real Madrid won the return leg at Santiago Bernabéu, with Ronaldo scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win. With the goal in the second leg, Ronaldo equalled the Real Madrid record of Iván Zamorano of scoring in five consecutive El Clásico matches.^[113] Ronaldo was second (tied with Lionel Messi) in the 2011–12 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, only behind Andrés Iniesta.^[114]
On 2 September 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first league goal of the season in a 3–0 win over Granada, which was also his 200th career goal in league matches played in England, Spain and Portugal. He added another goal which was his 150th goal for Real Madrid in all competitions in 149 matches played. This goal made him the 10th highest scorer for Real Madrid in all competitions. Ronaldo was substituted at the 63rd minute by team mate Gonzalo Higuain, due to a minor thigh injury.^[115]

Unhappy claim

After the match, Ronaldo claimed that he was unhappy with a "professional issue" after he refused to celebrate his 149th and 150th goals for the club.^[116] Several of his teammates claimed that Ronaldo had the full support of the team.^{[117][118][119]} Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes, insisted that he always knew about his client's admission that he was unhappy with life at Real Madrid.^[120] Ronaldo dismissed the notion that his post-match declaration of "sadness" was related to a desire for a new and improved contract at the club.^[121] Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, claimed that Ronaldo did not want to leave the club, and that he is unhappy for other reasons.^[122] Former Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, stated that Ronaldo is under a lot of pressure and would not have realized the impact of his revelation.^[123] When he returned to Real Madrid, after international duty, Ronaldo stated he is focused on achieving further success with the club.^[124][125] Real Madrid coach José Mourinho stated "If Ronaldo is sad but plays like he does, that's perfect for me",^[126] and believed that UEFA's decision to elect Iniesta as the best player in Europe in 2011–12 could have been one of the reasons behind Ronaldo's unhappiness.^[127]

Comeback

On 15 September, Ronaldo appeared in Real Madrid's fourth league match in a 1–0 away loss against Sevilla.^[128] On 18 September, Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal of the season in a 3–2 victory over Manchester City.^[129] On 30 September, Ronaldo scored a hat-trick (including two penalties), his first La Liga hat-trick of the season, in a 5–1 win over Deportivo de La Coruña.^[130][131] On 4 October, Ronaldo scored his first career hat-trick in Champions League as he led Real Madrid to a 4–1 victory over Ajax.^[132] In the following week, Ronaldo again scored a brace of two goals against Barcelona, in a match which ended at 2–2 draw at Camp Nou, which made him the first and only player to score in 6 consecutive El Clasico's.^[133] Ronaldo than scored his fifth Champions League goal in a 2–1 away loss against Borussia Dortmund on 24 October 2012. On 28 October 2012, Ronaldo scored a brace in the 5–0 away win against Mallorca.
On 11 November, Ronaldo started as a striker in a 2–1 away win over Levante, as both Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuaín were injured.^[134] In the match, he received an horrific elbow to the eye in the second minute, but scored his twelfth La Liga goal to give Madrid the lead, before being substituted at half-time.^[135] For the injury, José Mourinho had to say: "He's dizzy. In the first half he was unable to see properly with that eye, but during the break he couldn't see properly with either. So it was impossible for him to continue."^[136] This led to that Ronaldo was examined from the Portugal squad for the friendly game against Gabon.^[137] On 21 November, he appeared in Madrid's 1–1 Champions League group stage draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. The match represented the first time that Ronaldo played in Manchester since leaving City's rival, Manchester United, for Madrid in 2009.^[138] On 1 December, after not scoring in his previous three games, Ronaldo scored a goal from a free-kick and assisted Mesut Özil to score the second goal, in a 2–0 victory over Atletico Madrid.^[139]