The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has now scored 807 goals for club and country after his hat-trick heroics against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. The 37-year-old 12th-minute opener helped him equal the record of Austro-Czech Josef Bican who netted 805 goals between 1931 and '55.
The Portuguese who had scored just once in his previous 10 games surpassed that of Bican with a tap in from Jadon Sancho's pass to put United 2-1 ahead before powerfully heading home his third to spark wild celebrations in the stands as United won 3-2.
However, controversy has hit the record as FIFA does not keep an official record, but the world governing body estimates that Austro-Czech Josef Bican netted 805 goals. While the Czech FA are of the opinion that Bican's total was actually 821 goals following a review of his statistics, Brazilians believe that duo Pele and Romario each scored more than 1,000 goals during their careers.
