Lionel Messi scored his 700th career goal against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday — and did it in style. The Catalan team in second place faced the Camp Nou’s third-place capital team.
Messi was able to bring his team ahead 2-1 early in the second half after Felipe dropped Nelson Semedo in the box for a penalty kick to hit the target, but Barca was unable to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Messi, who hit the post with a beautiful curling shot in the first half, made no mistake at the spot, went for a Panenka-style pass, sending Jan Oblak the wrong way.
That’s a way to get your 700th score. It wasn’t a close forgettable tap-in, but a cheeky chip that will be remembered by many and one Oblak will want to forget. Messi also assisted with a curling corner kick to set up the opener that resulted in Diego Costa’s own goal.
Messi’s 700 overall goals make him the active player with Cristiano Ronaldo’s 727 trailing the second-most goals. In 1,004 games, Ronaldo has hit the mark while Messi has appeared in 862 matches.
Messi is the seventh-best scorer in history when factoring in total targets from youth national teams and club reserve teams.
It was his 630th career goal for Barca for those counting, and he has 70 more for Argentina national team. Atletico is the team with Messi ‘s second-most conceded goals at 32, behind Seville’s 37. In reality, Messi’s scored over 20 career goals against 11 Spanish clubs. The most to be conceded by the non-Spanish club is Arsenal with nine.
The remaining goals from the above list are five for Barcelona C, six for Barcelona B, two for Argentina U-23 team, and 14 for Argentina U-20 team.
It’ll be fascinating if he can hit 800 career goals at the age of 33.
