With Lionel Messi breaking Pele's longstanding record for scoring the most goals for a single club in history last week, Santos have released an official statement claiming the Argentine has not actually surpassed the Brazil legend's tally.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner scored his 644th goal for Barcelona last Tuesday, making him the player with the most strikes for a single club in the history of the sport.
Messi beat Pele's record of 643 goals for Brazilian club Santos, with the three-time FIFA World Cup winner himself sending the Argentine a message of congratulations when he equalled his tally.
Santos, however, disputed the fact that Messi has scored more goals for Barcelona than Pele did for them in an official statement released on the weekend.
"According to some statisticians, Argentine Lionel Messi (Barcelona) became the player with the most goals for the same club, reaching 644 goals for the Catalan club, excluding friendly matches - called by some as official goals," the statement from the Brazilian club read, according to GiveMeSport.
"Pele scored 1 091 goals for Santos. In the accounts of the specialised press, the King of Football scored 643 in competitions and the 448 goals scored in matches and friendly competitions were ostracised, as if they had less value than the others.
"The 448 goals that today (they) try to disqualify were scored against the main clubs and teams of the season. America (Mexico) and Colo Colo (Chile) each suffered nine goals from Pele. Internazionale Milan, one of the main teams in Europe in the 1960s, suffered eight more goals from the King. The list is immense and with participants weight: River Plate, Boca Juniors, Racing, Universidad de Chile, Real Madrid, Juventus, Lazio, Napoli, Benfica and Anderlecht. Barcelona himself, where Messi now plays, was also a victim of Pele: four goals, scored in four matches.
"The argument of some analysts is that so many of these 448 goals scored in friendly matches were faced with fragile opponents, such as small teams or regional teams. Even so, the matches were played in official uniforms, with the official rules of the game and with a score sheet.
"We have to remember that clubs could only play friendly matches with the endorsement of regional and national federations, one of the rules imposed by FIFA, the organiser of world football. Taking subjective attributes into account, such as the weakness of opponents, is not ideal for compiling statistical data. The numbers are absolute."
