The title of all-time leading scorer in football is highly contested and FIFA holds no official record, but the World Governing Body estimates that the Austro-Czech Josef Bican spent his career from 1931 to 1955 in which 805 goals were scored.

Of course Cristiano Ronaldo broke the all time goalscoring record with a hat trick 😤 pic.twitter.com/dLCOpReXUO

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 12, 2022

At Old Trafford, Ronaldo’s 12th minute opener had a superb strike from a distance that helped him equalize the record. The Portuguese international then tapped Bacon with a clean pass from Jadon Sancho to give United a 2-1 lead before their third and winner had a wild celebration at the stands.

It was Ronaldo’s 59th hat-trick of his career and his first for United since his return in 2008.

“Today it was his best performance, at least since I arrived,” United interim manager Ralf Rangnick told Sky Sports. “He was good in training on Thursday and that is why I decided to start him. Fantastic performance by him but also by the rest of the team.

“He can [get 70,000 people off their feet], but again he can also do it only with the team. A fantastic performance. It was not just the three goals today it was also he was part of the team when they were in possession of the ball.”