Having, legitimately enough, made a bit of a production about Lionel Messi breaking Barcelona's all-time scoring record at the weekend, it is, naturally enough, Cristiano Ronaldo's turn.
I'd like to subjugate the record he did achieve against Schalke, equalling the awesome Ferenc Puskas to become fourth on Real Madrid's all-time scoring list to a couple he didn't break ... but may do.
Messi holds the top mark for Champions League goals in a single season with 14. That's a Plimsoll Line which lasted nearly half a century (Jose Altafino scored 14 in a European Cup season back in 1963), which marks Messi's down as a gargantuan achievement.
But with at least two games left (barring injury) following Friday's quarterfinal draw, Ronaldo is within just one more strike of equalling that record. Pretty impressive. Particularly should Madrid go onward, even to the final, in which case Ronaldo could genuinely smash the all-time high water mark.
However what fascinates me still more is the battle to overtake Raul, who has more European Cup/Champions League goals than anyone ever.
The elite Spaniard scored all his UCL goals for Real Madrid and Schalke, and for the longest time it seemed as if not only would Messi get close to that mark long, long before anyone else, but it also appeared that, perhaps, the Argentinian would be the only one with the full armoury capable of even getting there.
Indeed his goal against Manchester City last week meant that Messi is now the player in history with the most Champions League goals for a single club, with Raul's overall record in his sights. But ...
After this demolition of Schalke, in which he's been a chief sadist, Ronaldo is now only four goals behind his eternal rival in the race to score 71, which will match Raul. Ronaldo has devoured the gap between him and Messi over the past two seasons. Devoured it.
It's riveting, this battle, it really is. Whether or not you accept -- and this is something which from personal experience I'm quite sure about -- that the two men feel quite differently about individual statistics, there remains an 'Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better' feel about their tit-for-tat record-breaking.
Realistically, both strikers have a chance by the end of this season to be the all-time leading goal scorer in the greatest club football competition ever invented. Don't miss a moment of their absorbing duel. It may be another 50 years before we see their likes again.
If you can't sign Seedorf then you reinvent him
One of the great benefits of Carlo Ancelotti's selection policy for us neutrals was the chance to see young Isco in action again.
He's just a gift of a footballer, often worth the admission money on his own.
And he's part of an interesting experiment right now. The first thing that happens when a new kid arrives on the block is that people want to know: 'What's he like?'
If you play along with that game you have to reach for comparisons and then the footballer, if he has any nous will say: "I'm not the new such-and-such ... I'm me" and so on.
Ancelotti, by his own admission, is trying to turn this Andalusian gem into the 'new Clarence Seedorf.'
The crux of the matter is that Isco's best positions are wide left in a 4-2-3-1 formation (where he was an absolute star for Malaga last season) or in the No. 10 role in that same team shape.
Madrid, over the past few months, have become a high-octane mix of the best of Spanish meeting the best of English football.
Quick, aggressive, powerful but technical, able to use the ball with high precision and with a couple of wonderful 'artistes.'
There are several codicils in Carlo's Madrid -- but one extremely vital one is that the midfield must press, work back and hunt in packs. Isco hasn't been able to stake a meaningful claim in the front three (albeit that Ancelotti is musing over whether he can handle playing the false 9 role), thus he must take a midfield opportunity whenever offered.
This was the case against Schalke. The Seedorf remark comes because Ancelotti, who managed the Dutchman, believes the comparison is a fair incentive for Isco.
Seedorf showed many footballing personalities throughout his extraordinary career.
But despite his initial forte being the kind of intuitive, quick-footed midfielder-cum-attacker that makes a player attractive and a potential game-changer, the Dutchman learned to work, to hassle, to organise and to use a terrific positional judgement. All of those things, but particularly the latter, elongated his career and won him all kinds of domestic and European prizes. Three Champions League medals, for example.
Real Madrid's Italian manager is taking time out to educate Isco, one-on-one, about what made Seedorf great. Ancelotti even phoned his old pupil to tell him that he was using him as a template/inspiration for the youngster. Seedorf was honoured.
This match was just a small advance in our learning. Following praise for Isco's work rate and intelligence in a stubborn win at Malaga last weekend, there was enough dilligence, attention to defensive detail allied to some sublime attacking moments to conclude that the young Spaniard is paying attention to his coach.
However, the significant number of years in advantage which Modric and Di Maria have over him were also underlined.
Isco is developing, but when he's in the midfield for Real Madrid there are probably more gaps for opponents to exploit, a couple more dozy moments when he switches off -- and not quite the same degree of pace.
But if it's a work in progress, it is a work of enormous worth. Isco is unquestionably a world-class creative talent and if nights like this -- plus endless training ground work at Valdebebas -- can transform him into Spain's Seedorf, then La Roja (and Madrid) will owe Ancelotti an enormous debt.
Symbiotic compatibility
Sunday night will obviously invite Gareth Bale-Neymar comparisons. If there was a thin dime between the overall cost of the two summer transfers then that's all you could separate them with now that Barcelona have been forced into transparency over their purchase from Santos.
For the moment it's sufficient to argue that no British or Irish player has ever started as impressively at a major European club.
There are some contenders for total respect -- John Charles, John Collins, Steve McManaman, Steve Archibald, Liam Brady amongst them. Over the term of their time with Juventus, Monaco, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus they were high achievers.
And, of course, there's Paul Lambert, who became the first British player to win the Champions League, with Borussia Dortmund in 1997.
But for the Welshman to arrive without the vital preparation of a preseason, suffer injuries, suffer an unforgiving microscopic glare of attention from the jumpy Spanish media -- and then to have at this stage of the season nearly 30 goals that have either been scored by him or been produced as assists -- is quite remarkable.
I suspect that the Spanish fans and media aren't fully clear about how much more there is to come. Bale is increasingly looking as if there's no one in La Liga who can come near to coping with his pace. Increasingly, he looks utterly comfortable, both within this squad and also with his place in the hierarchy.
Very early on Bale praised Ronaldo, made sure that CR7's feathers remained unruffled. Then he set about impressing him in training. The way that worked wasn't simply showing technical excellence but giving evidence of the fact that Bale is an exceptional professional -- like Ronaldo.
Attention to detail, ambition, intensity of work -- all boxes ticked.
What attracts my attention, particularly after the past two matches, is that instead of the narrative of several months ago when it was vital for Bale's reputation and the security of his place in the Real Madrid firmament that he played Robin to Ronaldo's Batman, there is now a genuine connection between the dynamic duo.
Bale has given Ronaldo nine goal assists this season, three in the past two games. (I'm counting Ronaldo's second goal Tuesday and I don't care who disagrees. The goal comes because of Bale's exceptional robbing of the ball and drive forward.)
What was emphasised against Schalke is that Bale is unselfish, knows instinctively what run Ronaldo will make, has the technical skills to centre for his team leader -- and the two men both think and run at identical speeds.
Equally, Ronaldo is a quick learner. He's happy to feed Bale, happy to run the risk that Bale will shoot and score off a Ronaldo pass ... because the majority of times if Ronaldo sends Bale away with a pass he's likely to get the return service if the Welshman has the option of a shot or serving up an assist.
Madrid could certainly have guessed that there might be a 'fit' between the two men, but a decent risk-assessment must also have told them that there was the possibility of Ronaldo's nose being out of joint at the arrival of his British clone.
Yet, week by week, it's getting to be a stronger, more interesting and more devastating partnership. You take your pick whether the Neymar or the Bale investment was a better one.
But there is no longer any doubting that Bale is more than capable of taking Madrid, and Spain, by storm.