World Cup 2018 Qualifiers: Cristiano Ronaldo leapfrogs Pele in list of all-time international goalscorers

New Delhi: Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored a ravishing hat-trick in a World Cup Qualifiers match against the Faroe Islands at Estádio do Bessa on Friday as the European Champions registered a 5-1 win at home. With that, he surpassed Brazilian legend Pele in the list of all-time international goalscorers.

Ronaldo opened his account three minutes into the game when he struck in a cross from Bernardo Silva with an astounding scissor kick. He found the net for the second time when he outfoxed the keeper Gunnar Nielsen as he curled in a penalty to the top-right corner to make it 2-0 for the home team. 20 minutes into the second half, midfielder William Carvalho returned a favour back to Ronaldo with a pass in the penalty area and the skipper dummied and then nestled in the ball with a left-footed curl to complete a hat-trick.

Accounting overall goals, it was the 32-year-old's fifth hat-trick for Portugal. The other four had come against – Northern Ireland, Armenia, Sweden, and Andorra. He now has 14 goals in the qualifying round from seven matches taking his total to 78 international goals in 144 matches.

The hat-trick took him past Brazilian legend Pele who has 77 goals to his name for Brazil from 1957-71. However, Pele had reached the mark in just 92 matches.

Ronaldo's 78 puts him alongside Iraq's Hussein Saeed at position 5. He is now six goals behind Hungary's Ferenc Puskas, who is still the top scorer among Europeans. Leading the chart is Iran's Ali Daei with 109 goals in 149 international appearances.

@Cristiano Ronaldo (78): more international goals than @Pele (77). pic.twitter.com/p18M0Hn70W — UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) August 31, 2017

Portugal now stand second in Group B in their World Cup qualifying campaign. They have 18 points from seven games, three behind table-toppers Switzerland. Portugal will next play against Hungary on September 3 at Groupama Arena, Budapest.