Is Cristiano Ronaldo the greatest of all time? The jury might be out on that, but Juventus made it official, in a way, on Sunday.
The Portuguese star had overtaken Brazilian legend Pele after scoring a hat-trick against Cagliari, taking his tally to 770 career goals for club and country.
Three-time World Cup winner Pele officially scored 767 goals during his career, although he claims to have scored more than 1,000 after including unofficial matches.
Prior to Sunday's Serie A match against Benevento, club president Andrea Agnelli presented Ronaldo a special shirt with 'G.O.A.T' and 770 printed on the back to commemorate the feat.
Ronaldo, 36, had earlier expressed his joy of overtaking Pele's record in a post on Instagram.
"I'm filled with joy and pride as I acknowledge the goal that puts me on top of the world's goalscoring list, overcoming Pele's record, something that I could never have dreamed of while growing up as a child from Madeira," Ronaldo wrote.
Pele, 80, in turn posted on Instagram: "Congratulations on breaking my record of goals in official matches. I admire you a lot, I love watching you play and this is no secret to anyone."
However, it was not all hugs and smiles for Ronaldo on Sunday. Benevento dented Juventus’ Serie A title hopes as Adolfo Gaich’s second-half strike sealed a shock 1-0 victory in Turin and ended the relegation stragglers’ 11-match winless run.
