The 36-year-old got a hat-trick for a trick for the Serie A giants to move past a controversial milestone that set the image of Brazil
Cristiano Ronaldo was presented with a ‘GOAT 770’ commemorative shirt by Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli to mark his 770th career goal.
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in last weekend’s 3-1 win at Cagliari to move away from Pele’s controversial record of 767 career goals.
The deceptive world of historical football statistics means that there is still controversy about the game’s main goal-scorer – Josef Bican is recorded as scoring 805 goals between the 1930s and 1950s, while sources count Pele’s account at over 1200 – but surpassing Brazil’s widely recognized number of 767 achievements worth noting.
Ronaldo 770 goals with the club
Most of Ronaldo’s goals came for Real Madrid, as he was going to be their main goal scorer with 450 for the club.
It’s official, Cristiano Ronaldo is the GOAT 🐐
He has a shirt to prove it 😏
770 career goals 👑 pic.twitter.com/9HKDSmTQAX
– Amas (@goal) March 21, 2021
He had previously scored 118 for Manchester United and had 95 for his name for Juventus ahead of their game with Benevento on Sunday.
Ronaldo has also scored 102 goals for Portugal, closing in on Ali Daei ‘s 109th record of Iran – the highest ever number in men’ s international football.
Respect for each other Pele and Ronaldo
Ronaldo made clear his respect for Pele in a post on Instagram: “The few weeks filled with news and stats made me consider the world’s top scorer in football history, surpass Pele 757 official goals, ”he wrote.
“While I am grateful for that recognition, now is the time for me to explain why I have not taken up that record to date.
“My eternal and unconditional respect [for Pele] made me pay attention to his 767 score, accepting his nine goals for the Sao Paulo State Team, as well as his only goal for the Brazilian Military Team, as official goals.
“The world has changed since then and football has changed too, but that doesn’t mean we can just erase history. ”
Pele responded with an Instagram post: “Congratulations on breaking my list of goals in official matches.
“I respect you very much, I really enjoy seeing you play and this is no secret to anyone.
“My only regret is that I can’t give you a hug today. ”