Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his silence after being recognised as the leading scorer in football history.
Ronaldo netted a wonderful hat-trick to give United a much-needed 3-2 win over Tottenham on Saturday evening.
He blasted in from range, tapped in Jadon Sancho’s cross and powered in a late header to ensure United bounced back from their derby defeat the previous weekend.
It was also an important game for the 37-year-old personally, with his 59th hat-trick taking him onto 807 career goals.
That led FIFA to officially declare Ronaldo as the highest scorer of all time after he passed Czech legend Josef Bican, who had held the record with 805.
After taking a day to reflect on the achievement, Ronaldo posted a video on Instagram to celebrate on Sunday.
“Proud to overcome one more challenge by becoming the World’s Clubs Top Goal Scorer, only six months after becoming the World’s International Top Goal Scorer,” he wrote in the caption.
“Nothing but respect for Romário, one of the best strikers of all time!
“Thanks to all the players that I’ve come across throughout my career, thanks to all the clubs that I represented, thanks to all my fans, and above all, thanks to my wonderful family.
“I couldn’t have done it without you!”
Ronaldo had missed the Manchester derby with a hip flexor injury but returned with a bang against Spurs to give Ralf Rangnick’s side a boost.
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United midfielder Paul Pogba was quick to pay tribute to his team-mate, using his post-match interviews to rubbish rumours about Ronaldo causing friction in the dressing room.
“Ronaldo was brilliant. I think that’s all we needed – a reaction,” he told Sky Sports.
“We scored beautiful goals. Even when we conceded a goal, we came back and scored again. The mentality was there again today.
“Everybody knows Cristiano – there’s no need to talk about him. That’s what he does. He didn’t play in the last game, but he comes back and scores three goals. Everybody’s happy.”
Pogba added to BBC Sport: "He has never been a problem. You have the best striker in history in our team, he cannot be a problem. Today the performance from him and all the team was very brilliant.”
While it took until Sunday for Ronaldo to acknowledge his record, the Portuguese forward did share his post-match thoughts on Twitter.
“Tremendously happy with my first hat-trick since I came back to Old Trafford!” he wrote.
“Nothing beats the feeling of being back on the pitch and help the team with goals and effort. We’ve proven once again that we can beat any team in any given day, as long as we work hard and stand together as one.
“There are no limits for Man United! No matter what! Let’s go, Devils!”
Ronaldo will now turn his attention to helping his side reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League by beating Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
United come into the second leg at Old Trafford with the score at 1-1 following Anthony Elanga’s dramatic late goal in Madrid.
