Brazilian football legend Pele has publicly praised the goalscoring exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo on social media after the Juventus forward bagged a hat-trick in a 3-1 Serie A win over Cagliari on Sunday.
Ronaldo grabbed all three goals in the first 32 minutes of the match with a header, a right-footed penalty, and a left-foot shot as Juventus bounced back from their midweek Champions League exit.
Those three goals mean the 36-year-old five-time Ballon d’Or winner has now scored an incredible tally of 770 with the player acknowledging the feat on Instagram and praising Pele’s impact on him growing up.
Cristiano wrote on his social media saying: “My everlasting and unconditional admiration for mister Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele), such is the respect that I have for mid-20th century football, led me to take into account his 767 score, assuming his nine goals for Sao Paulo State Team, as well as his single goal for the Brazilian Military Team, as official goals.
“Today, as I reach the 770th official goal in my professional career, my first words go straight to Pele. There’s no player in the world who hasn’t been raised listening to stories about his games, his goals and his achievements, and I’m no exception.
