Football: Messi equals Pele, a goal record shared between two giants
Lionel Messiah enters even more deeply into the legend: with his 643rd goal for FC Barcelona on Saturday against Valencia in La Liga, the Argentinian equaled "King Pele" and his 643 goals with Santos, which made him the top scorer in history in a single club.
The goal, scored with a header at the Camp Nou after a penalty shot, which he himself fired and was repelled by Valencia goalkeeper Jaume Domenech, allowed Messi to equal that record, which is almost 50 years old (Pele had left Santos in 1974 to join the New York Cosmos).
Messi scores most of his missed penalties like this and our fanbase will shamelessly celebrate it as open play goal! pic.twitter.com/nhASpaB8gK - Real Messi fan (@Messisexual10) December 19, 2020
This will make her name a little more indelibly inscribed in the soccer pantheon.
"These numbers are impressive, we'll never have a player as effective in this club. That's why he's number 1. What he has done for this club is impressive," his coach Ronald Koeman praised him this week at a press conference.
Messi (33) scored 643 goals in 748 official games with Barça, according to the club (1 goal in 1.16 games), while the Brazilian had scored 643 goals in 757 games with Santos (1 goal in 1.17 games), where he had played for 18 years.
On July 1, "La Pulga" ("The Chip" in Spanish) had already reached an emblematic milestone: in the 2-2 draw against Atletico Madrid on the 33rd day of La Liga 2019-2020, Messi scored the 700th goal of his professional career, including club and national team, with a clever panenka from a penalty kick.
Cascading records
More than 15 years have passed since Messi opened his goal counter with the first team: Barça. His first goal came on May 1, 2005 against Albacete in La Liga (success, 2-0).
The Blaugrana captain, who threatened to leave the club in August before making up his mind, but who will be free to leave Catalonia on July 1, 2021 at the end of his current contract, has even scored 680 goals in 801 games with Barça, counting the goals scored in unofficial matches.
The six-time Golden Ball winner, six-time Golden Shoe winner and Thursday's finalist for the FIFA The Best 2020 award is by far the highest scorer in Barça's history (ahead of Cesar Rodriguez's 230 goals), the highest scorer in the 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 in the Champions League).
Equal Pele has a very strong resonance for the Argentinian, three weeks after the death of his compatriot and other soccer legend, Diego Armando Maradona [November 25].
"One king".
"Like you, I know what love is to wear the same shirt every day. Like you, I know that there is nothing better than a place where you feel at home. Congratulations on your historic record, Lionel," Pelé reacted on Instagram on Saturday night.
Other records still held by "O Rei" ("the king", in Portuguese) are also within reach of the Argentinean superstar... or his eternal Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has changed clubs too often (4 pro clubs) to hope to join Messi and Pelé in the top scorers ranking in a single club.
Having scored between 757 and 767 goals in official matches throughout his career, according to the sources, Pele is still ahead of Messi (714) and Cristiano Ronaldo (756), author of a double Saturday with Juventus, to the total number of career goals, including selections. Pele, him, claimed more than a thousand goals scored... counting all the games played, official or not.
However, if we stick to the official matches, the Brazilian seems to be outstripped by the Austrian and Czechoslovakian striker Josef Bican, who scored 805 goals.
Pele also remains the top scorer of all the South American confederation's selections with his 77 goals for Brazil, six ahead of Messi's 71 goals with Argentina.
