Brazilian football legend Pele congratulated Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo for breaking his goalscoring record.
After scoring three goals against Serie A side Cagliari, Ronaldo has now reached 770 career goals. Ronaldo has scored for the Portugese national team, Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and current club Juventus.
Pele took to Instagram to write a congratulatory note to Ronaldo that said, “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,”
“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.”
Ronaldo himself also posted on his official Instagram after reaching this career milestone. He wrote, “The last few weeks were filled with news and stats considering me the World’s Top Scorer in football history, overcoming Pele’s 757 official goals. Although I’m thankful for that recognition, now it’s time for me to explain why I didn’t acknowledge that record until this moment.”
“The last few weeks were filled with news and stats considering me the World’s Top Scorer in football history, overcoming Pele’s 757 official goals. Although I’m thankful for that recognition, now it’s time for me to explain why I didn’t acknowledge that record until this moment.”
“My everlasting and unconditional admiration for mister Edson Arantes do Nascimento [Pele], such as the respect that I have for mid-20th century football, led me to take into account his 767 score, assuming his 9 goals for Sao Paulo State Team, as well as his single goal for the Brazilian Military Team, as official goals. The World has changed since then and football has changed as well, but this doesn’t mean that we can just erase history according to our interests.”
Ronaldo referred to controversy that occurred a while ago that Pele has scored more than 1000 goals, but FIFA calculated his career total to be 767.
Further on, Ronaldo stated that he intends to go further and that “this story is still far from being over. The future is tomorrow and there’s still a lot to win for Juventus and Portugal!”
