As Argentina and France prepare to battle it out for the World Cup on Sunday, many have questioned how many goals has Messi scored in his career?
With one of the game’s greatest on the brink of immortality, we decided to break down his staggering goal record for Barcelona, PSG and the Argentine national team.
How many goals has Messi scored?
Barcelona
Lionel Messi is easily the greatest player to have ever put on a Barcelona shirt.
Playing for the club for 17 years, the Argentine legend won it all at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
It was at the Spotify Camp Nou where Messi established his status as arguably the greatest player of all time.
The 35-year-old’s majestic dribbling, unrivalled eye for a pass and penchant for scoring a ridiculous tally of goals made him the complete attacker.
One of the great man’s most memorable feats was when he broke German icon Gerd Muller’s record for the most goals scored in a calendar year (91) in 2012.
Lionel Messi and Barcelona, name a more iconic duo: we’ll wait.
Goal record at Barcelona: 672 goals in 778 total matches.
Paris Saint-Germain
With the Spanish giants finding themselves amidst a financial crisis, they had to commit the cardinal sin of letting Lionel Messi leave.
As a result, Messi did the needful and joined Paris Saint-Germain.
Considering the three-time Champions League winner struggled to be at his very best during his debut season under Mauricio Pochettino, he scored just 11 goals in 34 matches.
For a player of the veteran’s standing in the game, that was an admittedly measly figure.
However, Lionel Messi has been unplayable in the 2022/2023 campaign and in 19 matches in all competitions so far, he has already outdone his tally from the previous term with 12 goals.
Goal record at Paris Saint-Germain: 23 goals in 53 total matches.
Argentina
Lionel Messi finds himself on a date with destiny, as a World Cup final against France awaits him on Sunday.
And as you know, the elusive trophy remains the only piece of silverware he is yet to tick off his footballing bucket list.
Unlike Diego Maradona, who won the World Cup in 1986 and for that very reason alone, many fans across the globe still believe he is greater than Messi.
Of course, Luka Modric does not believe the Blaugrana legend needs the biggest trophy the game has to offer to be classed as the best player in history ahead of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo (via Mundo Deportivo).
But keeping that aside, culmination of sub-par tacticians and previous teams that lacked chemistry meant the PSG attacker was unable to replicate Maradona’s feat.
However, Messi has always put up huge numbers for Argentina, as displayed in Qatar.
Only this time, the ageing superstar could etch his name into the history books while further enhancing his enviable number of goals for La Albiceleste.
Goal record for Argentina: 96 goals in 171 total matches
Career goal record: 791 goals in 1002 total matches
In simpler words, the answer to how many goals has Messi scored is a lot.
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