“Heroes get remembered, but legends never die,” said baseball icon Babe Ruth. And it’s certain that former Brazilian soccer legend Pele falls into that category. Now, current Brazilian star Neymar has overtaken Pele’s goal-scoring record for the Selecao and the current Brazilian soccer icon took to social media to pay tribute to Pele, who passed away just eight months ago.

Pele was prolific for Brazil back in the days scoring 77 goals for his country from 1957 and 1971. Neymar scored what was his 78th and 79th goal for Brazil, and posted about it on social media, paying his respects to the late soccer legend. This comes 8 months after Pele’s sad demise that saw the soccer world mourning.

Neymar pays tribute to Pele on social media after surpassing Brazil’s scoring record

Neymar’s goals came in the 63rd minute and in added time in the 90+3rd minute in Brazil’s 5-1 win over Bolivia. This was Brazil’s first 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier, which they won in emphatic style.

Neymar took to his Instagram account, to post about his achievement. The Brazilian soccer star posted a story with a picture of himself celebrating his goals with the text: “para você rei” which translates to “for you king” scrawled underneath it.

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The 31-year-old also followed the story up with a post on his Instagram account, with the “prayer” emoji.

Speaking to the media after his record-breaking goals, Neymar said, “I never imagined reaching this record. I want to say that I am not better player than Pele,”  “I always wanted to make my own story, write my name in the history of Brazilian football and the national team. And today I did that,” he added.

Neymar now has a total of 79 goals for the Brazil national side, 2 goals ahead of Pele. This tally has come in 124 international caps for the Selecao.

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Pele’s foundation also recognizes Neymar’s accomplishment

Soccer legend Pele passed away last year on 29th December. He was 82 years old at the time of his untimely demise and succumbed to cancer. However, Pele’s foundation was quick to congratulate Neymar on his remarkable achievement.

The Pele Foundation’s account on X, posted the following tweet. The tweet translated to English from Portuguese read: “Congratulations, Neymar Jr, for surpassing the King in goals for the Brazilian National Team in official FIFA matches. Surely Pelé is applauding you today!.” The tweet also contained pictures of a young Neymar spending time with Pele.

This is surely a groundbreaking accomplishment for Neymar, who in his own right, is a Brazilian soccer icon. Neymar is yet to make his debut for his new club Al Hilal. But it’s certain that not just Brazil but the whole soccer world will applaud Neymar for this achievement of surpassing one of the game’s all-time greats.

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