Updated: December 24, 2020, 6:25:12 pm
Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for the Catalan club in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Real Valladolid, beating Pele’s long-standing single-club goal record (file).
On Tuesday, in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Real Valladolid, Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for the Catalan club, beating Pele’s long-standing goal record for a single club. The Argentine champions hit the Brazilian legend’s record of 643 goals for Santos last week. He has now reached the top.
How long was Pele’s record?
Pele scored 643 goals in 757 games for the Brazilian club Santos between 1956 and 1974. That was his record for 46 years.
How many games did Messi take?
In 17 seasons – from 2004 to 2020-21 – and in 749 club games, Messi has scored 644 goals. In 2005 he scored his first goal for Barcelona.
Before Messi, who came closest to Pele?
The German legend Gerd Müller scored 565 goals for Bayern Munich in a 15-year club career.
Did Messi party in the company of Xavi and Iniesta?
Statistics suggest it. Between 2009-10 and 2014-15, Messi scored 332 goals in 321 games. It was a time when Barcelona had redefined the art of football, with Andres Iniesta and Xavi at the center and Messi as the team’s talisman. After Luis Suarez joined Barcelona in 2014, the Uruguayan became Messi’s best service provider with 47 assists according to La Liga statistics.
What was Messi’s most productive season?
In 2011-12 he scored a staggering 73 goals. Pele’s most productive season for Santos was 1957-58, when he scored 66 times.
His left foot
Statistics from multiple sources confirm that Messi used his left foot 531 times on the way to record.
How did Pele react to Messi’s performance?
“Like you, I know what it’s like to wear the same shirt every day. Like you, I know what it’s like to wear the same shirt every day, ”Pele wrote on Instagram after Messi hit his record on Saturday.
How did Messi react?
“When I started playing soccer, I never thought I’d break a record. Even less the ones I reached today and held Pele, ”Messi wrote on Instagram.
How did the world react?
“Lionel Messi has scored his 644th goal for @FCBarcelona. He has hit @ Peles’ record of most goals by a single club. This is a record nobody thought would ever be beaten. It will never be beaten again, ”wrote the great Englishman Gary Lineker on Twitter.
Who will win head-to-head?
Sport doesn’t allow us to compare the greats. Pele was mostly a center-forward while Messi mostly operated from the right wing. Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and four Champions League crowns as well as the Ballon d’Or six times.
Internationally, Pele scored 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil. Messi has so far scored 71 goals in 142 games for Argentina. But Pele has won the game’s ultimate prize, the world championship, three times. The success remains a void in Messi’s glorious career, which ran under six years ago when Argentina finished second in the 2014 World Cup.
Did Messi put more pressure on than Pele?
Pele practiced his profession in Brazilian club football a little under the radar. It was a different era before the media boom. There was no social media.
Messi has been in full public glory for nearly two decades. He has played for one of the biggest clubs in the game in European football. In terms of international football, unlike Brazil in Pele’s time, Argentina does not have a surplus of wealth. Pele played alongside Garrincha, Vava, Didi, Rivelino, Jairzinho and Tostao. On the other hand, Pele shone the brightest in the midst of a constellation of stars.
Messi was the jewel in the crown of a great Barcelona team. But his role model Diego Maradona led Argentina almost single-handedly to the 1986 World Cup triumph.
© Indian Express (P) Ltd.