Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Brazil great Pele as the leading goalscorer in world football and has posted about it on Instagram.
He scored a hat-trick as Juve beat Cagliari 3-1 in Serie A Sunday evening and that took his goal tally to 770 official career goals.
Pele has congratulated Cristiano Ronaldo for breaking his record for goals in “official matches” .
“Life is a solo flight. Each makes his own journey. And what a beautiful journey you are having! I admire you a lot, I love watching you play and this is no secret to anyone. Congratulations on breaking my record of goals in official matches,” Pele, who posted a picture of himself and Ronaldo embracing, said on Instagram.
“My only regret is not being able to give you a hug today. But I leave this photo in your honor, with great affection, as the symbol of a friendship that has existed for many years.”
Since football’s world governing body FIFA does not keep an official record of who is on top of the all-time scoring list, it is a benchmark that is hotly contested.
Several media outlets previously hailed Ronaldo for breaking the record when he reached 760 goals as he had supposedly surpassed the record set by Austro-Czech striker Josef Bican.
However, the Czech FA subsequently said in January that Bican’s total was actually 821 goals, following a review of his statistics during a career spanning from 1931 to 1955.
According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF), an online database of historical soccer statistics that is used as a general guide by several mainstream sports media outlets, including ESPN, Pele has scored 775 goals across additional appearances for a “military team” and for a “Sao Paolo Selection” between 1959 and 1962 — eight more than Pele himself claims.
Ronaldo celebrated the milestone after the game and explained his reasons for waiting to acknowledge it.
