Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed football legend Josef Bican as the leading goal scorer in the sport's history with his three spectacular strikes.
Digital Desk: Cristiano Ronaldo, a Manchester United great, etched his mark in the history of professional football with a magnificent hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday. With his first two scores of the game, Ronaldo surpassed Josef Bican as the all-time top goalscorer in the sport's history.
Just minutes after the referee and VAR ignored Ronaldo's protest for a handball, the 37-year-old smashed a rising curler from 25 yards into the top left corner, putting Hugo Lloris, a helpless observer, as the local team took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
Spurs leveled the score in the 36th minute when Harry Kane converted from the penalty, despite David de Gea going wrong. Still, Ronaldo restored the advantage only two minutes later when Jadan Sancho teed him up perfectly for the record goal.
Ronaldo now has 806 goals in his career, making him Fifa's all-time leading scorer. One hundred thirty-five of his goals were scored for Manchester United, 450 for Real Madrid, 101 for Juventus, 115 for Portugal, and five for Sporting CP.
Ronaldo netted his 807th goal, which also happened to be the game-winner, to complete his first hat-trick since returning to United and lead United to a 3-2 victory over Tottenham.
Ronaldo broke Bican's record, which he had held since 1956. Bican scored 805 goals in 530 games throughout his spectacular 25-year career, 395 of which came in 217 matches for Slavia Prague. Even though Bican has netted over 1500 goals in his journey, FIFA only recognized 805 of them.
Romario, a Brazilian great, is third on the list with 772 goals in 994 games between 1985 and 2007, while Messi, Ronaldo's arch-rival, is fourth with 759 goals in 961 games since his debut in 2003.
Ronaldo is only the third player beyond 37 to score at least a brace in a Premier League match, after Teddy Sheringham (once) and Graham Alexander (twice).
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