Incredible Cristiano Ronaldo passes Pele in all-time goal scoring charts

Cristiano Ronaldo overtook Pele as the second-highest goalscorer of all-time with a brace for Juventus in their 4-1 win against Udinese on Sunday.

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The Portuguese forward scored the 757th and 758th goals of his illustrious career as Andrea Pirlo’s side moved up to fifth in the Serie A table.

Pele registered 757 goals during his career for Santos, New York Cosmos and Brazil between 1956 and 1977, but now sits third in the all-time list with Ronaldo now only behind Josef Bican’s total of 805*. 

THE MAJORITY OF RONALDO’S GOALS CAME AT REAL MADRID

Ronaldo now has 656 club career goals since his first season at Sporting Lisbon back in 2002, with the majority of the goals coming at Real Madrid.

The 35-year-old scored 450 goals in 438 appearances while playing in the Spanish capital although Ronaldo also has an impressive goal tally on the international stage too.

Ronaldo has 102 goals in 120 matches for Portugal and that tally is expected to grow as Fernando Santos’ side look to defend their European Championships title later this year. 

It means former Manchester United man has averaged 42 goals-a-season over his 18-year career for both club and country. 

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Meanwhile, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi is behind Ronaldo in the all-time record for club and country with 715 goals, although the Argentinian forward has managed this total by playing 100 fewer career games than the Juventus star.

Messi also holds the record for the most goals scored for a single club – 644 goals – another record previously held by Pele until the Barcelona man broke it last month with a goal against Valladolid.

The Argentine has since given a bottle of Budweiser to every single goalkeeper he has scored against, with shot stoppers receiving multiple bottles if they conceded more than one goal.

PELE’S FORMER CLUB RELEASED A STATEMENT

Pele’s former club Santos, however, released a statement that Messi did not break the Brazilian forward’s record last month as he actually scored 1 091 during his 20th-century career.

Ronaldo’s brace against Juventus, meanwhile, was his 14th league goal of the season with the 35-year-old currently leading the Italian top-flight’s scoring charts.

To note *: Goals scored over the years is always a contentious issue with either accurate records not kept or own goals claimed by strikers, in addition to ‘non-competitive’ goals scored in friendlies, exhibition matches or youth competitions.

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