Ronaldo surpasses Pele's record with hat-trick for Portugal

Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday struck his fifth international hat-trick during Portugal's World Cup qualifier to surpass Brazil football great Pele on the list of top international goal scorers.

Ronaldo's three goals, which came during Portugal's 5-1 triumph over Faroe Islands, took his international goals to 78, thus passing Pele's tally of 77 for Brazil from 1957-71.

However, it should be noted that Ronaldo took 144 games to achieve the feat in contrast to Pele's record of 92 games, goal.com reported.

The three-time Ballon d'or winner, who has 43 hat tricks in his club career, has now moved to fifth on the list of all-time international goal scorers.

Ronaldo's treble has also seen him take his goal tally to 14 for the current campaign, with that haul equaling that of former Real striker Predrag Mijatovic.