Despite a disappointing first season with Paris Saint-Germain, Lionel Messi is now the second greatest goalscorer in football history.
Messi joined PSG as a free agent last summer and helped them win Ligue 1, although he only scored six league goals in 26 games.
In the Champions League, he did much better, scoring five goals in just seven games. That’s a total of 11 goals, bringing his career total to a remarkable 764.
That puts him two ahead of Pele, the Brazilian icon who (we emphasize) scored 762 goals in three decades.
He’ll be hard pressed to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 813 goals in his career.
However, the Argentina international has a chance to become only the second player in history to score 800 goals.
Check out the entire list per IFFHS below:
Here ….
23. Franz Binder (Austria/Germany) – 502 goals
22. Imre Schlosser (Hungary) – 504 goals
21. Hugo Sanchez (Mexico) – 507 goals
20. Roberto Dinamite (Brazil) – 511 goals
19. Luis Suarez (Uruguay) – 520 goals
18. Gyorgy Sarosi (Hungary) – 526 goals
17. Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina/Spain) – 530 goals
16. Uwe Seeler (Germany) – 551 goals
15. Jimmy McGrory (Scotland) – 552 goals
14. Fernando Peyroteo (Portugal) – 553 goals
13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) – 560 goals
12. Glenn Ferguson (Northern Ireland) – 561 goals
11. Robert Lewandowski (Poland) – 563 goals
10. Joe Bambrick (Northern Ireland) – 616 goals
9. Eusebio (Portugal) – 619 goals
8. Gerd Muller (Germany) – 634 goals
7. Jimmy Jones (Northern Ireland) – 647 goals
6. Josef Bican (Austria/Czechoslovakia) – 720 goals
5. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) – 729 goals
4. Romario (Brazil) – 755 goals
3. Pele (Brazil) – 762 goals
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 764 goals
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 813 goals
Ronaldo had a successful season at Manchester United, scoring 24 goals in all competitions.
United, on the other hand, came in sixth place in the Premier League and missed out on the Champions League.
Their final point total of 58 is likewise a club record low.
However, he has pledged his future to the Red Devils and is looking forward to working with new boss Erik ten Hag.