Lionel Messi took the game away from Liverpool with two late goals to help Barcelona win 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final at Camp Nou – and in the process scored his 600th goal for the club.
It was the second of the evening, a wonderfully curled free-kick beyond Alisson and into the top corner of the net, that saw Messi reach the landmark in his 683rd Barcelona appearance - 14 years to the day after scoring his first goal for the club.
That was against Albacete in La Liga with the assist provided by Ronaldinho. A lot has happened since then. Here are the latest numbers behind his truly extraordinary career…
Unsurprisingly, Messi is Barcelona's all-time top scorer. In fact, he has scored 368 goals more than any other player. He surpassed the total of Cesar Rodriguez when scoring a hat-trick against Granada back in 2012.
During his Barcelona career, Messi has scored against 76 of the 85 teams he has faced, with Sevilla his favourite opponent - he has found the net 36 times against them.
Two of his five favourite opponents in terms of goals scored are arch-rivals Real Madrid (26 goals) and Barcelona's neighbours Espanyol (25), becoming the all-time top-scorer in El Clasico and the Barcelona derby matches.
Messi has also scored in six different competitions for Barcelona, becoming the all-time top-scorer in La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup. He is also the second highest scorer in Champions League history with 112 goals, only surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo with 126.
As for the types of goals scored by Messi, 491 of them have been with his left foot, while only 85 have been scored with his right. There have been 501 of them from inside the box, while he needs one more from distance to bring up a ton of goals from outside the area.
Forty-two of those 99 goals from outside the box have been scored from direct free-kicks like the one that put Barcelona three goals up against Liverpool on Wednesday evening.
Goal types
Goal type Total goals % of goals Left foot 491 81.8% Right foot 85 14.2% Headers 22 3.7% Other 2 0.3% Inside box 501 83.5% Outside box 99 16.4% Penalty kick 70 11.7% Free kick 42 7.0%
Free-kick record
In the top five European leagues in all competitions, Messi has scored eight direct free-kick goals this season – twice as many as any other player.
Three of the five players to have provided Messi with the most assists actually played alongside him in Barca's reserve team. His current team-mate Luis Suarez is just one goal away from overtaking Dani Alves as the player to have provided the most assists for him.
After scoring that first goal against Albacete, Lionel Messi took 1721 days to score his 100th goal for Barcelona. He needed 654 days to reach his 200th goal, 473 days to reach the 300th, 791 days for his 400th and 735 days to score his 500th goal.
That landmark goal came against Real Madrid in his favourite away ground, the Santiago Bernabeu. This one came at home in another massive match. Roll on number 700…
English victims
Barcelona's Lionel Messi has scored 26 Champions League goals against English clubs – 14 more than any other player.
entecto71
123
Honestly, Messi is by far the greatest. CR7 is a machine, an incredible footballer who will go down amongst the greatest of players to ever kick a ball. But Messi is just better. He has a better goal-to-game ratio, a better assist-to-game ratio and a better key pass-to-game ratio. So basically Messi is superior in the three pillars of attacking production, goals, assists and key passes. If I was a Ronaldo fan, I would just be proud of what my idol has achieved rather than trying to prove he is better than Messi. Us messi admirers aren’t saying that Ronaldo is bad, it’s just that Messi is too good. Ronaldo is truly incredible, it’s not easy to keep pace with Messi for so long. But Messi is destined to win the Balon D’or this season which means he will just be one step ahead of Ronaldo forever. And that’s no shame for Ronaldo. Being worse than Messi is not a shameful thing. Ronaldo is great 👍 But Messi is our GOAT.
JustGoWithIt
55
Its Cause He Is Surrounded By Great Players Who Feeds Him, Like Xavi, Iniesta, Alves etc ... Messi Total Club Goals 600: Messi Total Club Goals After Excluding Team Assist & Penalties: 312 Goals In 638 Games + Still Was Able To Give Back His Team 231 Assist Which Is 55 More Assist They Give Him (Loan Repaid + 55% Interest) vs What About The Greats Who Help The Goal Scoring Machine Huh? Likes Of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Ozil, Benzema, etc ... Goal Scoring Machine Total Club Goals 600: Goal Scoring Machine Total Club Goals After Excluding Team Assist & Penalties: 302 Goals In 801 Games + Was Able To Give Back His Team 204 Assist Which Is 3 More Assist Than What His Teams Give Him (Loan Repaid + 3% Interest) #Messi #G.O.A.T