Even more in the legend: with his 643rd goal for FC Barcelona scored on Saturday against Valencia for the 14th day of La Liga, Lionel Messi equaled "King Pelé" and his 643 goals with Santos as the top scorer in history in one club.
The Argentine scored the goal with a header at the conclusion of an action following a penalty that he himself had taken and which had been rejected by Valencia goalkeeper Jaume Domenech, just before the break (45th + 4 ).
He thus equals a new record, almost fifty years old that one (Pelé had left Santos in 1974 to join the New York Cosmos), and thus inscribes his name a little more indelibly in the pantheon of football.
Messi (33) has scored 643 goals in 748 official matches for Barça according to the club (or one goal in every 1.16 matches), while the Brazilian has scored 643 goals in 757 appearances for neighboring Sao Paulo, Santos FC (a goal every 1.17 matches), where he had played for 18 years.
“These figures are impressive, we will never have such an efficient player in this club.
That's why it's N.1.
What he did for this club is impressive, ”praised his trainer Ronald Koeman at a press conference on Tuesday.
15 years at the top
More than 15 years have passed since Messi opened his goal counter with the first team Barça: his first achievement came on May 1, 2005 against Albacete in La Liga (2-0 success).
The Blaugrana captain, who threatened to leave the club in August before changing his mind (but who will be free to engage where he wants on January 1, 2021) even cumulates 680 goals in 805 matches at Barça, if we count the goals scored in unofficial matches.
The six-time Ballon d'Or, six-time Golden Boot and finalist for the FIFA “The Best” 2020 Prize on Thursday is by far the top scorer in Barça history (ahead of the 230 goals of Cesar Rodriguez), the top scorer in the world. history of the Spanish Championship (450 goals, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo's 311), and the player who has won the most titles with the Catalan club (34, including four Champions Leagues).
On July 1, the "Pulga" (chip, in Spanish) had already taken a step forward: in the draw (2-2) against Atlético Madrid counting for the 33rd day of Liga 2019-2020 (ended during the been due to the novel coronavirus pandemic), Messi had scored the 700th goal of his professional career with a clever panenka on penalty.
The Argentine will have the opportunity to overtake Pelé to become the only top scorer in history in one and the same club during Barça's next meeting against Valladolid on Tuesday (22:00) for the 15th day of La Liga.
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