How many career goals has Leo Messi scored?
The Argentinean’s goal against Lille moved him up to third on the all-time list of scorers, although he remains 42 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
Leo Messi has started the 2022-23 campaign at PSG in excellent form, appearing to put a difficult first season in Ligue 1 firmly behind him. In four official matches, he has already scored four goals, the most recent a special one for his legacy converted against Lille in a 7-1 thrashing at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. Messi’s strike took his career tally to 773 goals for club and country - 672 for Barcelona, 86 for Argentina and 15 at PSG - taking the 35-year-old past Romário and into the top three top scorers in football history.
Messi eyeing Josef Bican next
Messi’s next target is Josef Bican, who scored 803 career goals, 30 more than the Argentinean’s current total. The Vienna-born striker is considered one of the best forwards of all time and was included in the FIFA list of the 50 best players of the 20th century. If he manages to move ahead of the former member of the Austrian “wunderteam,” Messi will have an just one player, an old acquaintance, ahead of him: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi and Ronaldo likely to end careers on top
The rivalry between the Argentinean and the Portuguese is already inked in the annals of sporting history as one of the greatest contests of all time. Although both are entering the final stretch of their careers, they continue to deliver. Ronaldo leads the scoring table with 815 career goals, a figure that will continue to rise as it seems the Portugal captain is in no rush to hang up his boots, even if he would rather be anywhere than at Manchester United at the moment.
Messi, meanwhile, did not hit the heights that have become so standard throughout the Argentinean’s career during his first season at PSG, scoring just 11 times as he adapted to a new league and his role in a side led by Kylian Mbappé, but under Christophe Galtier PSG’s front three seems to have clicked, bagging 17 in three Ligue 1 fixtures to date. If anything, it is surprising Messi has not helped himself to more but his current remit is to provide for Mbappé, who scored a hat-trick against Lille. Still, at PSG’s rate of scoring, it seems likely he could exceed Bican’s career tally this season. Then the title of the greatest scorer of all time will be a straight contest between Messi, 35, and Ronaldo, 37.
All-time list of football top scorers
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 815 goals
- Josef Bican (Austria/Czechoslovakia): 805 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina): 773 goals
- Romário (Brazil): 772 goals
- Pelé (Brazil): 767 goals
- Ferenç Puskas (Hungary): 746 goals
- Gerd Müller (Germany): 735 goals
- Eusébio (Portugal): 631 goals
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland): 601 goals
- Ferenc Deák (Hungary): 576 goals