Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar has quickly climbed the leaderboard in Brazil’s all-time goal-scoring list. Over the past couple of years, Neymar surpassed the likes of Rivaldo and Romario on the goals list with ease. The PSG superstar checked off another name from the checklist on Tuesday when he passed Ronaldo for second place following his hat-trick of goals in the fixture against Peru.
It was only a matter of time on just when Neymar would pass Ronaldo. And for the former Ballon d’Or winner, he recognized that Neymar passing him on this historic goals leaderboard is a landmark moment in the storied history of the Brazilian national team.
Ronaldo paid his respects to Neymar with a lengthy post via his official Instagram account. He congratulated Neymar by posting: “All my respect for you Neymar! He plays a lot, gives assistance, plays, dribbles and thrashes. The sky is the limit. Fly, kid! What a beautiful story you are writing. A complete and increasingly mature player. … Keep trusting your instincts because the talent is yours and nobody can take it from you.”
Neymar now stands at 14 goals away from passing Pele to become Brazil’s all-time leading goal-scorer. This was a feat many speculated that Ronaldo once would achieve over in his career. But due to multiple injuries, Ronaldo failed to come close to Pele’s scoring figure of 77 goals with Brazil.
If Neymar can stay healthy, he may very well surpass Pele’s record soon.
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