“When I started playing soccer I never thought I would break a record …”. Surely, the one that Lionel Messi beat in Valladolid is the most difficult of all. With his goal in Zorrilla, he reached the 644 official goals with the same team, the Football Club Barcelona, one more of those that Pelé achieved with Santos. Beyond Messi's last difficult times with Barça, it will be necessary to look over time and from a distance at a record that is Martian and that today seems unattainable.
Messi is a storm of data and records. His goals are spread over 17 seasons. Since 2004-05, when he inaugurated his locker against Albacete, until the Valladolid goal. The 2011-12 season was the most productive, 73 goals, at an average of 1.21 per game. In 2012-13, the mean was 1.20. With his 644 goals in 749 games, Messi overtakes Pelé as the top scorer in history for the same club. Further away are Torpedo Müller (570), Bican (542) and McGrory (504).
Diego Alves is the goalkeeper who Messi has scored the most times (21). They are followed by an intimate enemy, Casillas (18), Gorka Iraizoz (18), Andrés Fernández (17) and Diego López (14). It is curious that a former teammate like Bravo scored up to 13 goals. For those who say that he hides in important matches, here is the list of favorite victims: Sevilla (37), Atlético (32), Valencia (29), Real Madrid (26), Betis and Espanyol (25), Osasuna and Athletic ( 24). He scored 531 goals with his left, 88 with his right, 23 with his head, one with his chest and one with his hand.
By competitions, Messi has scored 451 goals in LaLiga, 118 in the Champions League, 53 in the Copa del Rey, 14 in the Spanish Super Cup, 5 in the Club World Cup and 3 in the European Super Cup. This is a 46-year-old record, which has also been beaten thanks to 80 converted penalties and no less than 47 goals from direct free kicks, an outrage.
Messi has scored 450 of his goals inside the big box, 106 from outside the box and 88 inside the small box. Winner of six Ballon d'Or and six Golden Boots, this is his most difficult record, but not the only one. He is the top scorer in the history of the Classics (26), he is the player with the most titles in the club (34), he is the only footballer who has a Laureus. He scored 91 goals in a calendar year, 2012, leaving behind Müller, who had scored 85 in 1972. He beat Zarra with seven Pichichis, scored 50 goals in a single league (2011-12), and has beaten 161 goalkeepers. Messi will not only remain as a scorer, but as someone who made everyone play. He has given 260 assists in his career with Barça … It is infinite and his career as a culé may not yet have an expiration date.