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Lionel Messi has reached a significant milestone in his football career, becoming only the second player in history to score 900 goals in official matches, joining his long-time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi hit the 900-goal mark after scoring for Inter Miami in their 1-1 draw against Nashville SC in the Concacaf Champions Cup (CCC) second-leg match on Wednesday.
Despite Messi’s early goal in the match, which came within the first 10 minutes, Inter Miami were knocked out of the CCC on away goals after Nashville’s Cristian Espinoza equalised in the second half.
The draw saw Inter Miami eliminated from the tournament, with Espinoza’s crucial goal sending Nashville through to the next round.
Messi’s 900th goal came in his 1,142nd official match, marking another milestone in his illustrious career.
The Argentine forward’s strike in the CCC match puts him just behind Ronaldo, who reached the same 900-goal feat in September 2024.
Ronaldo, who has scored 965 goals so far, has publicly expressed his desire to surpass 1,000 career goals before retiring.
While Messi reached the milestone in fewer games than Ronaldo, the two players have had different career paths in terms of their goal-scoring feats.
Messi’s total includes a remarkable 672 goals for Barcelona, where he played from 2004 to 2021, making him the club’s all-time top scorer.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, scored 450 goals for Real Madrid during his nine-year stint at the club.
In addition to his club success, Messi has scored 106 goals for Argentina, while Ronaldo has netted 145 for Portugal.
Messi’s career total is now rounded out by 80 goals for Inter Miami, his current club, while Ronaldo has scored 101 goals at Juventus and 115 at Al Nassr.
Messi’s time at PSG yielded the lowest goal tally of his career, with just 32 goals.
As Messi continues to build on his legacy, he still has some distance to cover before he can catch up to the all-time goal-scoring record of Ronaldo, the iconic number seven.
