Neymar surpasses Pel as Brazil's top goalscorer during thrashing of Bolivia

The Al-Hilal SFC forward could have broken the record earlier, but missed a penalty

Neymar Jr. scored a brace Friday night at Estadio Olimpico do Par to lead his side past Bolivia in a World Cup Qualifiers contest. His first goal of the night was in the second half to surpass Pel as the country's top goalscorer ever.

The Al-Hilal SFC forward could have broken the record earlier, but he missed a penalty at the start of the match. Rodrygo opened the score eight minutes later (minute 24) to start what would end in a 5-1 thrashing.

Neymar, 31, again nearly scored his historic 78th international goal in the 40th minute, but the celebration would have to wait, with the Bolivian goalkeeper denying what would have been an incredible ending to a beautiful play. He juked six players before shooting and still missed.

Raphinha extended the lead for Brazil in the first minute of the second half and Rodrygo scored his brace less than 10 minutes later.

The fourth goal of the night for Brazil was by Neymar to surpass Pel and it came off a fortunate deflection inside the box.

Neymar went on to score another goal after Bolivia had broken the Brazilian's clean sheet and made it 5-1. He now has 79 goals in 125 caps.

Pel's final goal for Brazil was in 1970 and no player had even come within a dozen goals of the legend.

Ronaldo scored 62 goals in 98 caps and others like Rivaldo and Ronaldinho didn't even reach the 40-goal mark.

Neymar may not be playing at a highly-competitive league anymore, but he is still the leader and star of Brazil, who are eagerly waiting on Carlo Ancelotti to start his tenure as their head coach.