Pele refuses to accept his goal-scoring records surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo
The great Brazilian legend, Pele seems to feel uncomfortable with claims that Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his record goalscoring. This can be seen from the claims of 1,283 goals he made posted on his personal Instagram account.
Previously, it should be noted, Cristiano Ronaldo successfully broke this record after scoring two goals against Udinese earlier this week.
With the addition of these two goals, the Portuguese superstar has now scored 758 goals in competitive matches. A number of statistical sites also claim that this number exceeds the number of goals in competitive matches that Pele scored during his previous career.
The Brazilian legend is claimed to have scored 757 goals in competitive matches, or one less than Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally.
With that many goals, Cristiano Ronaldo only lost to Josef Bican, who scored 805 goals in the period 1931 to 1957 in competitive matches.
Interestingly, it was not long after the statistical claim that Pele immediately made his own claim that he had scored 1,283 goals throughout his career.
The claim is listed in a statement on Instagram belonging to a man from Brazil. Pele wrote on his profile on Instagram: Top scorer of all time (1,283).
Italian media, Football Italia said that this claim is debatable, because according to them Pele also included the goals he scored in non-official matches such as friendlies, testimonials, tours and so on.
Meanwhile, goals in competitive matches themselves are calculated based on official competition-based matches recognized by FIFA.
Meanwhile, Pele only defended two clubs throughout his career as a player, including Santos (1956-1977) and New York Cosmos before retiring.
During his time with Santos, Pele scored 644 goals, which was equalized by Lionel Messi, who scored 644 goals for one club, Barcelona.
But Santos denied the claim and said that Pele scored more than 1000 goals, with goals in friendly matches also included.
Meanwhile, Messi scored 644 goals in Barcelona in competitive matches alone. So far, there is still no open debate on this matter.