Picture Credit: Twitter
On September 8, Friday, Neymar Jr overtook Pele as the new all-time men’s leading scorer for Brazil with his 78th goal for the country in his 125th appearance, during their 5-1 victory against Bolivia at the Estadio Olimpico do Para, in the city of Belem. The magical moment happened in the 61st minute of the FIFA World Cup qualifying match, when the 31-year-old put the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Pele, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all-time, donned the Brazilian jersey 92 times, from his debut in 1957 till 1971, scoring 77 goals in the process. He won the FIFA World Cup thrice for the country in 1958, as the youngest player at the age of 17 years, before repeating the feat in 1962 and 1970.
After breaking the record of his idol Pele, who had passed away on December 29 last year at the age of 82, Neymar Jr had the following words to say in one of the post-match interactions, “I never imagined reaching this record. I want to say that I am not better player than Pele. I always wanted to make my own story, write my name in the history of Brazilian football and the national team. And today I did that.”
Watch the video of Neymar Jr breaking the record of Pele here:
Notably, the early stages of the FIFA World Cup qualifying match belonged to Rodrygo, who opened the scoring for the Brazilian side in the 24th minute, before tripling their lead against Bolivia in the 53rd minute. The second goal of the one-sided match came from Raphinha in the 47th minute, the only consolation for the Bolivian side was the strike from Victor Abrego, which found the back of the net in the 78th minute, to reduce the margin of defeat somewhat.
Neymar Jr could have broken the record of Pele in the first half itself, but his penalty in the 17th minute was saved by the goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra. He managed to finish off Bolivia at the end, with his second goal in the injury time, to secure the comfortable win for Brazil.
The Pele Foundation, which handles the social media of the late great footballer, sent out a congratulatory tweet for Neymar Jr, after he became the all-time men’s leading scorer for Brazil. It said, “Congratulations, Neymar Jr, for surpassing the King in goals for the Brazilian National Team in official FIFA matches.” “Surely Pele is applauding you today,” it further added.
