Pele congratulates Ronaldo on reaching milestone
The scorer of a hat-trick in a 5-1 demolition of the Far Oer Islands, Ronaldo took his tally to 78, prompting Pele to say some kind words to Goal.com.
"I saw the goal, It was really special," Pele told Goal.
"It was a really nice play."
The Brazilian superstar has been overtaken by Ronaldo, whose 78 goals put him in fifth-place all time with Hussein Saaed. C-Ron still needs one to match Godfrey Chitalu (Zambia), two to join Kunishige Kamamoto in third place, and six to match Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas.
Miles ahead in first place, Ali Daei of Iran retired in 2006 with a staggering 109.
"Of course, these are different times," Pele said. "But the beautiful thing about football is the goals. And I take this opportunity to send a big greeting to Cristiano Ronaldo for that victory."
However, in reference to his total career goals record, the three-time World Cup winner added: "Now he has to score more than 1,283 goals!"