Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi in the race to break Pele's incredible record set in 1974
What's the story?
Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona ace Lionel Messi are on their way to breaking yet another record and this time it is one held by Brazilian legend Pele since 1974.
In case you didn't know...
Ronaldo and Messi have constantly been compared to the likes of Diego Maradona and Pele, with many deeming the duo even greater than the Argentine and Brazilian legends.
The last decade has seen Messi and Ronaldo banging in an unbelievable amount of goals for their respective sides, breaking old records and creating new ones in the process.
However, Pele does not appear to be impressed, going by his recent criticism of the Barcelona captain in an interview with Folha de Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian legend said, "How can you make a comparison between a guy who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right... and another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill, doesn’t head the ball well?"
"To compare with Pele, it has to be someone who shoots well with the left, shoots well with the right, and scores headers."
"As far as I’m concerned, Maradona was one of the best players ever."
"If you ask me, 'Was he better than Messi?' Yes, he was. Much better. [Franz] Beckenbauer, [Johan] Cruyff were also excellent players."
The heart of the matter
Despite the criticism, Pele cannot deny that his club goal-scoring record will soon be broken by either Messi or Ronaldo.
The 78-year-old, who played for Santos between 1956 and 1974, boasts of an incredible 619 official goals in 638 appearances.
According to The Mirror, Messi has so far netted 576 goals in 660 appearances for the side he now captains, Barcelona. Meanwhile, Ronaldo has scored an impressive 589 goals in 789 games so far.
This means that the Barcelona captain must score 45 goals before Ronaldo nets 31 to break Pele's record.
What's next?
If there is one player to break such a massive record, it is either Messi or Ronaldo. The only thing that remains to be seen is who will get there first.