Pele has sent his congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portugal forward surpassed his international goals record.

Ronaldo struck a hat-trick, including opening the scoring with a brilliant scissor-kick volley, in his side's 5-1 victory against the Faroe Islands on Thursday.

And his latest Portugal treble means Ronaldo has now scored 78 times for the Euro 2016 winners, moving ahead of Pele on the all-time list.

"Congratulations @Cristiano for joining the elite five of #FIFA international goal scorers. Congratulations!" Pele wrote on Twitter.

Ronaldo is now level with Iraq's Hussein Saeed and just two goals behind Japan's Kunishige Kamamoto, while Ferenc Puskas – who hit 84 goals for Poland – is also in his sights.

The all-time-record international goalscorer is still Iran forward Ali Daei, who struck 109 goals in 149 appearances.