Messi reaches 700 career goals
Messi casually dinked in his 49th minute penalty against Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou to bring up his 700th goal – 630 for Barcelona and 70 for Argentina.
He couldn’t do it last week against Celta Vigo on the eve of his 33th birthday but it was only a question of time before Leo Messi reached his latest career milestone. It finally arrived this evening against Atlético Madrd at Camp Nou, Messi brought up his 700th goal for club and country, in typical style – by casually stroking in a second half penalty Panenka-style.
Messi's first goal for Barcelona in 2005
Now Messi has scored 630 goals in all competitions for Barcelona. He celebrated his first against Albacete on 1 May 2005 - 15 years on from that, he is just 13 goals away from taking the world record for goals scored for one club, currently held by Pelé, who hit 643 for Santos – a record which has stood for almost 50 years but could soon be claimed by Barça's number 10.
Messi has scored 700 goals in 862 games for Barcelona and Argentina (70 goals in 138 caps at full international level with the Albiceleste). Messi's figures to date can be broken down as follows: 441 goals in LaLiga, 114 in the Champions League, 53 in the Copa del Rey, 14 in the Spanish Super Cup, 5 in the Club World Cup and 3 in the European Super Cup.
He took Telmo Zarra's LaLiga goals record in 2014 and is now by far and away the top goal scorer in the history of the Spanish top flight with 441 goals in 480 appearances. Messi is the only player to have scored 20+ goals in 12 consecutive seasons in LaLiga. He also holds the record for Argentina's national team, after surpassing Gabriel Batistuta's tally of 54 in 2016.
Messi on course for his seventh Pichichi award
He is also the top scorer in LaLiga with 22 goals - five more than his nearest rival, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, who is second on 17. If he manages to stay in pole position until the end of the campaign, he will pick up his seventh Pichichi award, and overtake the player who the award is named after - Athletic Club's legendary striker Telmo Zarra, who ended as the maximum scorer in the Spanish top flight six times during his career - a record he shares with Messi, or now...