Cristiano Ronaldo forces Rio Ferdinand to react rudely with subtle dig at Pele

Cristiano Ronaldo has been called a “bastard” by Rio Ferdinand after the Portuguese superstar made a sarcastic remark about Pele. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid legend, who at 39 still plays for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, has no intention of retiring anytime soon.

He set himself the goal of reaching 1,000 competitive goals, a goal many consider to have been achieved by Pelé, often considered the greatest footballer of all time, during his illustrious career from 1957 to 1977. However, although Pelé's tally of 1,279 goals is recognised as a Guinness World Record, many of these goals came in friendly matches, which are not counted in today's game.

There is little video evidence to support the Brazilian's claim. Most statistics, which only take into account top-flight matches, put Pelé's actual total at 757 (680 for club and 77 for country).

Ronaldo has already surpassed that figure and currently has 899 goals for club and country. That means he would have to keep playing until his 40s to reach the magical 1,000-goal mark. However, in a conversation with his former United colleague Ferdinand, he insisted it was achievable.

“Soon I'll be 900 and then 1000,” he boldly declared. Ferdinand, surprised, said to him: “Fuck, how old will you be then?”

Ronaldo replied: “41, I don't know. If I don't have any injuries, that's the most important thing, I want that. My challenge is to reach 1,000 goals, with one difference that every goal I score will be filmed. So I can prove it.”

Hearing Ronaldo's cheeky remark about Pele's disputed 1,000-goal mark, Ferdinand laughed: “You're an idiot. You're talking about [Alfredo] Di Stefano, you talk about Pelé, you talk about Eusebio.

However, Ronaldo insisted: “I respect them all. My goals [will be on video]If you want more goals, I can also bring them from training, so no problem.

“All the goals are with the video. I will prove to people who prefer this or that player. I don't care.”

As for the length of his career, Ronaldo, who turns 40 in February, said: “I know I'm still fit. I feel I can still dribble, shoot, score goals, jump. The day I feel I can't produce anything, I pack my bags and leave, but I feel far from that.”