Pele congratulated Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portugal forward’s hat-trick against Cagliari took him past the Brazilian legend’s tally of goals scored in official matches.
Ronaldo netted three times inside the opening 32 minutes to take his career total to 770 – three clear of Pele’s tally of 767.
“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 posted on Instagram.
Some reports suggest this is a world record tally but that is disputed by the Czech Football Association, which claims former Austria and Czechoslovakia striker Josef Bican is football’s true all-time top scorer with 821 goals.
Meanwhile, data from Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) says Bican scored 805 career goals. But among them were 27 goals for Rapid Vienna’s reserve and amateur teams, as well as strikes which were not in official international games. Remove those and Bican finished his career on 759 goals – short of Pele and Ronaldo’s total.-BBC
