Cristiano Ronaldo described Pele’s ‘eternal admiration’ after the Juventus star surpassed the number of goals scored by the Brazilian legend to become the top scorer in history.

Ronaldo blasted a perfect hat-trick yesterday to inspire Juve to beat Cagliari 3-1 in Serie A to record 770 goals throughout his career.

Pele, who enjoyed 18 years with Santos before playing in the United States in 1975, blasted 757 official goals throughout his career, helping Brazil win three World Cups.

Ronaldo reached that number last January, but there was some confusion over Pele’s number of goals after scoring another 10 goals that can be counted in official statistics – nine of them for Sao Paulo State and another for the Brazilian Military.

So Ronaldo insisted he waited until past 767 goals to celebrate.