Football Legend Pele says he did not change his Instagram bio after Cristiano Ronaldo overtook his haul of 757 goals in official competitions.
Juventus superstar, Ronaldo who has also claimed Five-time Ballon d’Or awards moved on to 758 career goals after netting a double in Juventus’ 4-1 victory over Udinese in Serie A on Saturday.
It came just two weeks after Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, saw his record for the most goals with a single club – 643 at Santos – eclipsed by Barcelona captain Lionel Messi.
Following Ronaldo’s goals against Udinese, Pele was accused of updating his Instagram bio to include “Leading Goal Scorer of All Time (1,283)”, a total that remains the subject of much debate.
However, the 80-year-old has refuted the allegation, insisting he is not trying to detract from the achievements of Ronaldo and Messi.
“I was accused by the press of having changed my Instagram bio to overshadow these big stars that are breaking my records,” Pele posted on Twitter.
“The bio text has always been the same since I joined the platform. None of this should distract us from their incredible achievements.”
Only Czech striker Josef Bican, who is credited with scoring 805 goals, lies ahead of Ronaldo in the all-time goalscoring list.
After Messi scored his 644th goal for Barcelona, Santos published an article on their official website – attributed to club historian Fernando Ribeiro – with the headline, ‘King Pele – 1,091 goals for Santos FC’.
Ribeiro claimed that Pele’s official haul for Santos was 1,091 when friendlies against some of the world’s best teams, including Barca and Inter, were included.
