Neymar equals Pele's record after 'moment of magic' against Croatia

Neymar turned up when his country needed him most with a wonderful goal against Croatia.

The 30-year-old forward equalled Pele as the joint-highest scorer in Brazil history on Friday when he rounded goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic in the 105th minute of their clash against Zlatko Dalic's men.

After a far from exhilarating first-half at the Education Stadium, things finally sparked into life in the second-half, when Brazil threatened to open the scoring.

Tite's side, who beat South Korea, Switzerland and Serbia on their way to the quarters, piled on the pressure and finally, after 105 minutes played, the PSG forward gave them a deserved lead.

Neymar, who has now scored 77 goals for his country, started and ended the move, rounding in-form goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic before sending Brazil fans into delirium.

But with moments remaining, Bruno Petkovic scored in the 188th minute to send the game to penalties.

As mentioned earlier, the former Barcelona forward has equalled Pele's record – although some questions have been raised about Pele's goalscoring record in the past.

In fact, Jamie Carragher played down the suggestion that Brazil's joint all-time leading goalscorer Pele scored 1,000 goals during his career, labelling the achievement as a "bit of a myth."

Pele's goal record continues to cause debate; so how many did he really score? Well, the legendary forward netted 643 "official" goals for Santos, with his overall career tally standing at 767, according to FIFA.

But back in December 2020, Santos claimed that Pele scored 1,091 goals - not the reported 643 goals - for the Brazilian club after Lionel Messi became the highest goalscorer for a single club when he scored for Barcelona against Real Valladolid.

In doing so, seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi broke a long standing record that had previously belonged to Pele since 1974, although Santos strongly denied that achievement.

In fact, they released a lengthy statement to suggest Pele's additional goals in 'official games' against the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus should be counted.

It's fair to say Pele's record divides opinion and during last night's episode of Monday Night Football, former Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher brought his views into the discussion.

You can watch that moment below.

There is no doubting Pele's iconic status in world football but the uncertainty surrounding the amount of goals he scored in his career often crops up.

Thoughts on Neymar's goal to join Pele in the scoring charts?

Let us know in the comments.

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