The vast majority of footballers begin to decline in their early-to-mid 30s.
But Cristiano Ronaldo, as we’re all acutely aware, is no ordinary footballer.
The Portuguese superstar turned 35 in February and is still scoring goals, and breaking records, for fun.
Ronaldo added two more goals to his remarkable tally during Juventus’s 2-1 win over Lazio on Monday night.
He broke three different records in the process, including becoming the first player ever to score 50 goals in Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League.
Following his latest brace, beIN Sports correspondent Tancredi Palmeri tweeted an updated list of the footballers with the most official goals in history.
Remember, this is official goals only. Pele famously scored over 1,200 goals during his career, but many of those don’t officially count because of the types of games they were scored in - friendlies and so on.
Let’s take a look at the top 13 as things stand…
13. Alfredo Di Stéfano - 516 goals
One of the greatest footballers of all time, Alfredo Di Stéfano was instrumental for Real Madrid during one of the most successful periods in the club’s history.
De Stéfano inspired Los Blancos to five consecutive European Cups in the late 1950s, as well as eight La Liga titles.
The Argentine-born forward, who also represented Spain at international level, won the Ballon d’Or in 1957 and 1959.
12. Zico - 525 goals
One of Brazil’s greatest ever players, Zico is his country’s fifth-highest scorer of all time with 48 goals to his name.
The attacking midfielder, who was a sublime dead-ball specialist, was an absolute goal machine with Flamengo during the 1970s and early-80s.
11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 542 goals
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has enjoyed an unbelievable career, playing for many of Europe’s biggest clubs over the past couple of decades, including Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United.
The charismatic Swede, who has scored all types of spectacular goals down the years, will surely be aiming to finish inside the top 10 of this list before he hangs up his boots.
=9 Arthur Friedenreich - 554 goals
Arthur Friedenreich was born in 1892 and played professionally during the early-1900s, so some of his statistics with clubs including Sao Paulo and Flamengo are highly disputed.
Labelled “The King of Football” by the European media, Friedenreich was the first professional footballer of Afro-Brazilian origin.
=9 Ferenc Deak - 554 goals
Hungary were a major force of international football during the 1950s and Ferenc Deak, whose best years were during the 1940s, was one of the first great Hungarian players.
The former striker, who passed away in 1998, scored at least 200 goals for both Szentlorinci AC and Ferencvarosi TC.
8. Eusebio - 615 goals
Another legendary forward, Eusebio spent the best years of his career with his beloved Benfica, with whom he scored an astonishing 473 goals in 440 games.
Born in Mozambique, Eusebio represented Portugal at international level, scoring 41 goals in 64 games for the European nation.
He did in January 2014 at the age of 71.
7. Josef Bican - 636 goals
If you think Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s stats are impressive, check out Josef Bican’s record with Slavia Prague between 1937-1948.
In 217 games, the Austrian forward is recorded to have scored a mind-blowing 395 goals. That’s not far off two goals a game!
6. Ferenc Puskas - 706 goals
‘The Galloping Major’, as he became known, Ferenc Puskas was a prominent member of the legendary Hungarian national team of the 1950s.
He only played for two clubs during his career - Budapest Honved and Real Madrid - but his extraordinary goalscoring ability made him a legend with both teams.
Puskas, who died in 2006, now has a FIFA award named after him which is awarded to the player who scores the ‘most beautiful goal’ each year.
5. Lionel Messi - 716 goals
Messi is only 33 and still scores plenty of goals for Barcelona and Argentina, so he’ll certainly end his career with more goals than most of the players currently above him on this list.
The big question is: can he outscore his eternal rival, Ronaldo?
4. Gerd Muller - 720 goals
A phenomenal penalty-box predator, Gerd Muller’s record for Bayern Munich and West Germany is incredible.
‘Der Bomber’ scored 565 goals for Bayern, plus a further 68 goals for his country in just 62 appearances.
=2 Cristiano Ronaldo - 734 goals
Ronaldo is now joint-second on the list of official goals scored, alongside Romario.
The Portuguese superstar now has Pele’s record in his sights - and it won’t be too much longer before he breaks it.
=2 Romario - 734 goals
A genius goalscorer who was unquestionably one of the world’s greatest forwards during the 1990s.
Romario scored bags of goals with every team he played for, including Barcelona, Vasco da Gama and, of course, the Brazilian national side.
1. Pele - 767 goals
Considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele will be insulted by suggestions that he only scored 767 ‘official’ goals.
But based on competitive matches only, the great Brazilian did ‘only’ score 767 goals in 831 games.
Pele will maintain that he scored 1,284 in 1,375 fixtures - a tally that even Ronaldo and Messi won’t match during their careers.
