Lionel Messi becomes Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer
Lionel Messi passed Paulino Alcántara on Saturday to become the Blaugrana’s greatest goal scorer.
Lionel Messi is officially the greatest goal scorer in FC Barcelona history. The Argentine striker scored in the 63rd minute on Saturday against Osasuna, netting his 370th career goal in his 452nd match in a Barcelona shirt, passing Paulino Alcántara, who had held the record since 1927.
Messi entered the match one goal behind Alcántara and pulled even in the 18th minute when he re-directed Pedro’s cross past Osasuna goalkeeper Andrés.
Then in the 63rd minute, the record fell.
Messi, who is just 26 years old, already held the Barcelona record for most goal in all competitions, not including friendlies, but this record includes any match played for the club, whether it was a competitive match or not. Messi has scored the most goals by a Barca player in La Liga (232), the most goals in the Spanish Super Cup (10), most goals in the Champions League (67), and most goals in the Club World Cup (4).
There’s also Messi’s amazing 2011/12 season, when he set the record for most goals scored by a player in a single La Liga season (50). This led into a magical 2012, when he set the record for most goals scored by a single player in a calendar year (91).
Most league home goals scored in a single La Liga season? Messi (35).
Most league away goals scored in a single La Liga season? Messi (24).
Most league matches scored in by a player in a single La Liga season? Messi (27).
Oh yeah, in 2012-13, he scored in 33 straight matches. Also a record.
The moral of the story is that Messi is really good at scoring goals ... and that he’s running out of records to break. The next big one is La Liga’s all-time scoring record, currently held by Telmo Zarra with 252 goals. Messi is two goals behind Hugo Sánchez (234) and will likely pass him before the end of the month.
Messi is now only 1,078 goals behind Austrian Josef Bican for RSSSF’s all-time scoring record. Becan scored 1,468 goals in 918 matches between 1931 and 1956.
See More:
