Ronaldo flies with Romario on 734

New Delhi, July 21

Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Brazil’s Romario in the second place on the list of the greatest goal-scorers of all time. But there’s a catch there — Ronaldo is No. 2 depending on how you count.

The Italian media has got Brazil legend Pele leading with 767 goals, followed by Romario and Ronaldo with 734 each. They are followed by Germany’s Gerd Muller (720), Argentina’s Lionel Messi (716) and Ferenc Puskas of Hungary (706). These are the only men to have scored over 700 goals, according to the Italian media.

RSSSF numbers

However, it’s never simple to count goals, and there are sometimes doubts over friendlies, official matches, exhibition matches, junior matches, etc. If you take the numbers compiled by Rec Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) — a reputed organisation of football statistics experts — then the most prolific goal-scorer of all time is a name not known to most modern fans: Josef Bican, with over 805 goals.

Bican, a Czech-Austrian player born in 1913, scored over 600 league goals, 537 first level championships goals. Bican’s scoring rate is an astonishing 1.52 goals per match. He has a total of 1,468 goals, including in unofficial matches. The corresponding number of total goals for Pele is 1283 goals.

Bican, who played internationally for three countries, was in the Austrian team that reached the 1934 World Cup semifinals.

RSSSF has Romario at No. 2 behind Bican with 772 goals from 994 matches, for a ratio of 0.78 per match. Romario, winner of the World Cup with Brazil in 1994, was active from 1985 to 2009.

The RSSSF list has Pele at No. 3 with 767 goals from 831 matches in a 21-year career from 1956 to 1977. His scoring ratio of 0.92 per match is better than Romario.

Cristiano Ronaldo is No. 4 on RSSSF’s list with 752 goals from 1046 matches, for a scoring rate of 0.72 per match in his career that is in its 20th year. Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas has 746-plus goals from 754 matches in the RSSSF list for an incredible scoring rate of 0.99 per match. Germany’s Gerd Muller (735 goals from 793 matches) is No. 6, followed by Argentina’s Lionel Messi, with 731 goals from 923 matches, for a scoring rate of 0.81 per match. — Agencies

Another first

Turin: Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score at least 50 goals in the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. His 51 in Italy go with his 84 in England, and 311 in Spain. Ronaldo’s double strike in a 2-1 win over Lazio meant Juventus could clinch a ninth straight Serie A title this week.

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