Lionel Messi Breaks Pele’s Record for Most Goals with One Club

Lionel Messi with Barcelona in 2019
Lionel Messi with Barcelona in 2019. Photo by Bagu Blanco/BPI/REX/Shutterstock (10209048s)

Barcelona star forward Lionel Messi continues to write soccer history. He added another chapter to it on Tuesday when he scored in Barca’s 3-0 win over Valladolid.

The goal was Messi’s 644th with Barcelona, becoming the player with most goals for a single club. The previous record was held by Brazil’s legend Pele, who scored 643 goals with Santos between 1956 and 1974.

Messi needed 749 games to reach the record while Pele set his in 656 games.

Before the start of the season, there was a big possibility that Lionel Messi wouldn’t break this record since the Argentinian wanted to leave Barca. He formally requested to be released by the club and was on the verge of an exit. However, the Catalan club declined to let him go, and he remained at Camp Nou for at least one more year.

There is still a chance that Messi won’t add to his goal tally with Barca in the years to come, since he’ll become a free agent next summer. While Barca is determined to do everything to keep the 33-year-old legend, he is reportedly already talking with other teams and might leave Spain to join Premier League giants Manchester City or Ligue 1 champs Paris Saint-Germain.