Cristiano Ronaldo left Rio Ferdinand in stitches after his veiled barb about Pele following his latest goal.
It comes as he narrows down on David Beckham’s total free-kicks scored in football after his last performance for Al-Nassr.
The 39-year-old scored the 899th goal of his incredible career in Al-Nassr’s win over Al Feiha on Tuesday.
And it came from a free-kick, curling his strike beyond the wall and into the top corner, out of the goalkeeper’s reach.
Cristiano Ronaldo has taken his career tally to 899 goals
REUTERS
That strike was Ronaldo’s 64th goal from free-kicks, just one behind Beckham’s grand total of 65.
However, if the five-time Ballon d’Or winner wants to take top prize, he still has some way to go to catch free-kick god Juninho Pernambucano.
The former Lyon star holds the all-time record with 77 free-kick goals while Ronaldo’s long-term rival Lionel Messi has 65.
But Ronaldo, who teased his retirement recently, has other ambitions as well as scoring more free-kicks and needs 101 more to make it 1,000 career goals.
The Portuguese legend is already the all-time record goalscorer in football history in the official record books.
Brazil icon Pele insisted he scored 1,281 goals, though hundreds of those goals were scored in friendlies while some have questioned the authenticity of his claim.
And Ronaldo seemed to make reference to Pele’s total while speaking to former Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand on his record-breaking YouTube channel.
Ronaldo said: “For me it’s the best mark that I can have in football, to reach, first 900 goals. After, my challenge is 1,000 goals.
“With one difference, all the goals that I score, they have video. So I can prove that it’s [real].”
Cristiano Ronaldo left Rio Ferdinand in tears after his quip
YouTube
The quip left Ferdinand rocking his head back with laughter as Ronaldo chuckled along and added: “My goals, [are] all goals.
“And if you want more goals, I can bring [footage] from training too. So no problem, all the goals on video!
“And I will prove to the people after [that I scored them]. [If] they prefer this player, I don’t care about that.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is desperate to reach 1,000 goals
While Ronaldo might be considered old in football terms, the former Real Madrid star insists he can play into his 40s.
He might have struggled for Portugal over Euro 2024, where he failed to get on the scoresheet, but he has started the Saudi Pro League season in fine form with two goals in two.