Climbing the Goal-Scoring Summit: Messi's Journey to Soccer Immortality

815

All of Lionel Messi's career accomplishments revolve around this number, at least in terms of goals. It's also true that Messi's performance at Inter Miami can be broken down using this number. How?

Let's take a close look at the digits. Like a superhero Messi has managed to find the back of the net 8 times in just 5 matches in Miami, and he's added 1 more goal while working in tandem with his teammates.

By dissecting Messi's exploits in Miami – goals, assists, and matches – we arrive at a grand total of... 815! Scratch that thought. This '815' represents the full tally of goals in Messi's illustrious career.

Race between two GOAT

Whenever the topic of Messi's goal-scoring prowess comes up, another name invariably enters the conversation – Cristiano Ronaldo. Among the current crop of players, none come even remotely close to challenging these two in the art of scoring goals.

The race for the title of football's all-time top scorer is a battle waged between two legends, Messi and Ronaldo.

The likes of Romario and Joseph Baican are now relics of the past. Among present-day footballers, only Robert Lewandowski stands as the most formidable challenger to Messi and Ronaldo in terms of professional goals.

However, labeling Lewandowski as their 'closest competitor' might strike some as an exaggeration. Lewandowski, with his impressive haul of 600 goals, trails Messi by 215 and Ronaldo by 242. The term 'closest' is stretching it a bit too far.

Ronaldo holds the current record of being top scorer

At present, the record for the most goals in football history rests with Ronaldo. He's netted 842 times in 1173 professional matches, excluding friendly games up until the previous night's encounter. The Portuguese maestro, now with Saudi Arabian club Al Nasr, averages a goal every 113 minutes.

Messi, on his journey to 815 goals across 1033 matches, boasts a scoring rate of 1 goal every 104 minutes. However, he still trails Ronaldo by 27 goals in this intense race for supremacy.

Though the gap might seem substantial, observing Messi's current form could sway some to think otherwise. The pursuit of Ronaldo is far from over!

Ronaldo, too, is in fine fettle. The 38-year-old striker has found the net 4 times in his last 4 outings for Al Nasr.

Given Messi's age of 36, it's reasonable to assume that he'll see more action on the pitch compared to his Portuguese counterpart. Consequently, the goal differential is likely to narrow. Messi's consistent displays for Inter Miami, even at this stage of his career, bolster this notion.

Heroic run of Messi since the debut for Inter Miami

From the day Messi made his debut for Inter Miami, the Argentine luminary has been a goal-scoring machine! He netted once in the opening match and repeated the feat in the fifth, out of a total of 5 matches played.

He even notched a brace in 3 of those matches. Miami also won a penalty in a 4–0 victory against Charlotte FC in the Leagues Cup quarter-finals.

However, Messi graciously deferred, leaving his teammates to take both spot-kicks. If not for that, who's to say the gap between him and Ronaldo wouldn't have been narrower?

The 'MessiVsRonaldo.app' meticulously analyzes various statistics related to Messi and Ronaldo's performances.

They recently tweeted that a teammate has taken a penalty 48 times while Messi was on the field. Out of these, 35 have resulted in goals, while teammates have faltered 13 times. Had Messi assumed penalty duties, the gap between him and Ronaldo might have been even smaller.

Is Unselfish Messi the Reason for His Second Place in the Scoring Race?!

Oh, and by the way, Messi has scored twice in the 7 instances when his teammates took penalties. In essence, had he taken all 7 penalties, his hat-trick count would have risen as well. As of now, Messi has notched 57 hat-tricks, while Ronaldo boasts 62.

Dwelling on what hasn't transpired holds little value. Let's shift our focus to what lies ahead. For those interested, a glance at Messi's club football goals can be quite enlightening.

Over the course of his club career, he's struck the back of the net 712 times (across 858 matches). Besides that currently has more than 100 goals in his international career also alongside Cristiano and Ali Daei.

Of those, 672 were for Barcelona, 32 for PSG, and 8 for Miami.

Messi requires a mere 8 more goals to surpass Ronaldo in the realm of club career goals. Ronaldo, with 719 goals in 973 matches, remains an opportunity to extend his count even further.