PARIS: Lionel Messi has surpassed Pele as the best scoring South American footballer of all time after scoring a brace for PSG in Tuesday's 4-1 win over Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League Group stage.

Pele, the famous Brazilian, was the most prolific scorer in South America, with 757 career goals for club and country, until Messi, the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, surpassed him.

Messi opened the scoring with an incredible curling attempt from the edge of the 18-yard box before sending a penalty past the Brugge goalkeeper to complete a hat trick.

Messi's 758 career goals place him second on the record of most career goals in professional football. In terms of the split, Messi has 678 club goals to his name, while he has 80 for the national team.

It means that the PSG front is now the second top goal scorer of all time, after Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 801 goals in his career.

Ronaldo scored his 800th and 801st goals against Arsenal last week, giving him 686 club career goals to go along with his 115 international goals for Portugal — another all-time high.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency