Reliving November 19, 1969: The Day Pele Scored His 1000th Career Goal

Pele may now be 73 years old, but despite the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now staking their own claims to being the best of all time, none yet comes close to the legacy of the Brazilian.

The Brazilian's landmarks and records belong to another time—he is still the only player in history to have won three World Cups—but he also finished his career with a reported 1,281 goals.

That mark is the subject of some dispute, with some arguing that the inclusion of his goals in friendlies makes little sense, given that this is not usually how records are calculated.

But either way, there was little debate in 1969 that Pele was on 999 career goals.

Pele, then 29 years old, was in Rio de Janeiro as his Santos team travelled to play Vasco da Gama.

The stadium was Brazil's legendary Maracana Stadium. The crowd, as The Modern Historian blog reports, was 125,000 strong.

Pele came close a couple of times, even hitting the woodwork. When he came close to scoring a header, as you can see in the video above, the defender ended up turning it in himself for an own goal.

But then, as The Modern Historian sums up, the moment came:

"

In the second half, a defender appeared to bring Pelé down in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot and the Santos left-back, Rildo, stepped up to take the kick, but the team captain, Carlos Alberto, decided that Pelé should take the spot kick as his team-mates retreated to the half-way line in order that he may compose himself.

"

As Pele slotted the ball into the corner, the landmark was reached. The scenes thereafter were extraordinary. The stadium erupted, and even the photographers who were behind the goalmouth ran onto the pitch and carried him aloft.

Whether the record was all that it seemed, we are unlikely to see anything quite like it again.