Ledley
5 years ago
If one wishes to talk about levels of competition, too, it is also worth taking a look at Pele and Ronaldo's respective records at international level. The Portuguese idol has scored 95 with his nation, more than any other player currently active and topping Pele's 77, but in terms of opposition he is open to the same criticism often levelled at O Rei.
Among his tally are five hit past Andorra; another five at the expense of Armenia and Latvia; four against Luxembourg, Lithuania, Hungary, the Faroe Islands and Estonia, all of whom are far from being considered amongst even the middle-ranking nations of international football.
Just four of Ronaldo's 95 goals have come against a previous World Cup winner and none at all in the knockout phase of that competition.
Ronaldo will go after Pele’s goal scoring record acording to super agent Jorge Mendes.
“The fact is that, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal have already played in three finals, winning two of them.
“Cristiano has reached the remarkable milestone of 700 goals, but I have no doubt that he’ll surpass Pele as the best scorer in football history, and he’ll do it with Juventus.
“After all, 68 goals aren’t a lot for this extraordinary Cristiano Ronaldo, are they? It’s also because I’m convinced that his best is yet to come.”
Ronaldo PS
As emphatic as Ronaldo's strike-rate is - and, thanks to Saturday's strike against Bologna, his tally now stands at 701 - it still takes a rather optimistic observer to see him surpassing the Brazilian great in these last years of his career.
Pele is credited with no less than 767 official strikes, during his time with Santos, the New York Cosmos and the Brazil national team.
However If one includes the myriad friendlies, tours and exhibition matches O Rei played during the two decades he ruled the roost in world football, that number famously rockets to 1281 goals, a figure that realistically will never be reached by any modern footballer.
The validity of Pele's outrageous statistics almost 60 years on has of course been called into question from time to time.
Not content with brushing aside that haul of unofficial goals – in a very real sense, football's prototype No.10 was a victim of his own success. His Santos side were taken across the world by clubs desperate for a glimpse of the star, whatever the cost – and those doubters also point out that he never played in Europe, padding his record books across the Atlantic Ocean in supposedly weaker competitions such as the Sao Paulo State championship.
The Paulista championship, it is true, has a varied level of competition, mixed as it is between Sao Paulo's heavyweights and regional amateur clubs. But in Santos, Sao Paulo and Corinthians it also boasts three club world champions, as many as Spain and Italy, and more than England.
From Pele to Neymar, Socrates to Careca, Rai and Gabriel Jesus, the regional championship has helped many a Brazil star cut their professional teeth on their way to stardom. The goals may have flowed, but with so many top performers dotted around Sao Paulo's state elite, the 10 titles Pele helped Santos lift were a unique, brilliant achievement.