Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo seem to have teamed up to embitter the existence of ‘O Rei’ Pelé. The Argentine crack did not wait even until 2021 to snatch him a record spanning five decades heading like the greatest scorer in history in a single club, in his case, Santos, where he was able to score 643 goals in official matches. Well, Messi struck down those records on December 22 after reaching 644 points, thanks to the goal he scored against Valladolid (0-3) in Pucela. Three months after surpassing this magical bar, Messi he adds 663, after the double he signed last Sunday against Real Sociedad (1-6).
After Messi's record came that of Cristiano Ronaldo who surpassed Pelé as the maximum director in history, adding goals with the clubs and with the national team. The now Juventus forward reached at the beginning of January 758 goals, for the 757 of the Brazilian star. Of course, ahead of both is the Austrian Czech striker, Josef Bican, who between the 1930s and 1950s was able to sign 805 goals.
And, since there are not two without three, Pelé has seen how Sunday Messi reached him as the top scorer in a league. Until now, the record was held by Pelé, who was able to score 467 goals in the Brazilian League for almost the two decades he played for Santos. With the two goals he scored against Real Sociedad, Messi also reaches 467 goals in the national championship.
In the most important European leagues on the Old Continent, no one has come close to Messi for a long time: Jimmy Greaves (357) in the Premier, Gerd Müller (365) in the Bundesliga, Silvio Piola (274) in Calcio and Delio Onnis (299) in Ligue1, they have already lagged far behind.
And soon Pelé will also see how he falls behind in the list of top scorers in history, because Messi already has 734 goals, between FC Barcelona and Argentina, only 23 from the records of the Brazilian myth.