 "Neymar Jr")
Neymar Junior went past Pele as the leading goal scorer for Brazil after he scored the first of his two goals against Bolivia at Jornalista Edgar Augusto Proenca State Stadium in Belem on September 08, 2023.
The goal that got Neymar ahead of Pele came in the 61st minute when Brazil were already leading 3-0. Neymar got a low cross into the penalty box, which the striker finished with accuracy from close range. This happened after the Al-Hilal man had missed a penalty in the game in the 17th minute. He scored again in the injury time to give Brazil a 5-1 win.
Atuação de gala!
— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) September 9, 2023
: Kin Analytics pic.twitter.com/ozzD1DJGAd
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Top goal scorers for Brazil
Neymar, who drew level with Pele way back in December 2022 during the Fifa World Cup in the quarterfinal against Croatia, waited nearly nine months to go past the record. In between he changed clubs from Paris Saint-Germain in France to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. The right-footer now has 79 goals in 125 appearances for the Selecao. Pele scored 77 in 92 matches.
On the basis of goals per game, Pele is ahead of Neymar. However, Neymar equalled another Brazillian great Ronaldo who scored 62 goals in 99 matches for the national side. Both Neymar and Ronaldo have scored 0.63 goals per match.
Top goal scorers in the world
At just 31, Neymar would now be looking to run in the race dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While Portugal’s Ronaldo has 123 goals in 200 appearances, Argentina’s Messi has 104 in 176 games.
Among active players, Neymar is ranked sixth among the highest goal scorers in international games. Ahead of him are Ronaldo, Messi, India’s Sunil Chhetri (92), Poland’s Robert Lewandowski (81) and UAE’s Ali Mabkhout (81).
