“In the last few days, there has been a lot of talk in the media and on social media about how many goals Pele scored in a Santos shirt,” read a post on Santos’ social media handle.
“According to some statistics, the Argentine Lionel Messi (Barcelona) became the player with the most goals for a single club, when he scored 644 for the Catalans, excluding friendlies — which some call official goals.
“Pele has already congratulated Barcelona’s No. 10: ‘Stories like ours, of love for the same clubs for so long, sadly, will keep becoming rarer in football,’ O Rei [The King] wrote on social media.
“However, part of the media report the total, while excluding the best record of all: the total number of goals for the clubs. Pele scored 1,091 for Santos.
Messi recently scored his 644th “official” goal for Barcelona, cementing him as the highest scorer of such goals in all competitions.
“In the expert press accounts, O Rei scored 643 in competitive matches and the 448 goals scored in friendly matches and tournaments were ostracised as if they hold less value.
“The 448 goals which today they try to disqualify, were scored against the best teams of the time. Club America (Mexico) and Colo Colo (Chile) each conceded nine goals against Pele.
Some have squandered the attempt to uphold Pele’s record by Santos, even calling for goals in training to be counted considering the lengths that the club are going to.
“Inter Milan, one of the great European sides in the 1960s, conceded eight from O Rei. The list is immense and includes huge names: River Plate, Boca Juniors, Racing, Universidad de Chile, Real Madrid, Juventus, Lazio, Napoli, Benfica and Anderlecht.
“Even Barcelona, where Messi plays, was one of Pele’s victims. He scored four goals in four games [against them].”
