Never thought I’d break any records, especially Pele’s: Messi

Messi on Wednesday moved past Pele as the highest goalscorer ever for a single club after guiding Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Valladolid here. Messi scored the third goal of the match as he set a new world record.

Valladolid: After surpassing Pele’s record, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi said when he started playing football, he never thought he would break any records, especially the one that the legendary Brazilian held for so many years.

Messi on Wednesday moved past Pele as the highest goalscorer ever for a single club after guiding Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Valladolid here. Messi scored the third goal of the match as he set a new world record.

After the achievement, Messi took to Instagram and wrote: “When I started playing football, I never thought I would break any records. Especially the one I broke today, which was @pele’s… I can only thank everyone who helped me over the years: my teammates, my family, my friends and everyone who supports me every day.”

The Argentine ace has now scored a staggering 644 goals, all wearing an FC Barcelona shirt, across 17 seasons and 749 games.

That surpassed the 643 goals that the Brazilian scored for Santos which was until now the world record. Pele, who played his last game for Santos in 1974 was one of the greatest players ever to grace the game.

However, there’s another Pele record that Messi has in his sights. The 77 goals that the Brazilian scored for his country are still a South American record. But Messi has 71 for

Argentina and needs just six more to equal that number.

During the La Liga clash, Clement Lenglet scored the opening goal, putting Barcelona ahead in the 21st minute. Martin Braithwaite then added another goal to Barcelona’s tally in the 35th minute before Messi’s second-strike sealed a 3-0 win for the club.

Sitting fifth on the La Liga table, Barcelona will now take on Eibar on December 29.