With a hat-trick against Bolivia, Messi surpassed Brazil icon Pele’s 77 goals to become South America’s all-time leading goal scorer. Pele is followed by his countrymen Neymar, who has 69 goals to his name and is the second-highest goalscorer in Brazil.
Five Brazilians and three Argentines appear among the top ten South American goal scorers. Gabriel Batista and Sergio Aguero are the other two Argentines on the team, in addition to Messi.
Here is a list of the top five goal scorers from South America of all time.
Leading the list is probably one of the greatest football players that the world has ever seen, [the GOAT: Greatest Of All Times as his fans address him] Lionel Messi, from Argentina, with a record of 80 goals in the 155 matches he has played all together.
Following him on the list is the Brazilian football legend, Pele. Pele has scored a total of 77 goals in the 92 matches he has played in his career starting from 1957 up until 1971.
On number 3 is another Brazilian football legend, Neymar. He has scored 69 goals from the 113 matches that he has played.
Luiz Suarez is on number four on the list, with a total of 64 goals from 123 matches.
Number 5 is Ronaldo from Brazil. In a career spanning almost 17 years, he has scored 62 goals off 98 matches that he played.
