Cristiano Ronaldo achieved a new mark of goal-scoring greatness on Thursday, and he received the message of a lifetime from the man he passed on the all-time international scoring list a day later.
Ronaldo’s three goals for Portugal in its 5-1 win over the Faroe Islands took his overall international goal total to 78 goals in 144 appearances, taking him into the top five all-time in international play and one ahead of Brazilian legend Pele.
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On Friday morning, Pele himself congratulated the 32-year-old Portuguese star for passing him on the all-time international goalscoring list.
Congratulations @Cristiano for joining the elite five of #FIFA international goal scorers. Parabéns!
— Pelé (@Pele) September 1, 2017
Ronaldo was too young in 2004 (just 19-years-old) to be named to Pele’s FIFA 100 but if Pele amended the list, Ronaldo would certainly be on it.
Ronaldo is currently tied with Iraq’s Hussein Saeed and is one goal behind Zambia’s Godfrey Chitalu in the scoring list. The top three is lead by Iran’s Ali Daei with 109 goals, followed by Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás with 84 goals and Japan’s Kunishige Kamamoto with 80 goals.
