Messi 700 goals: All the stats behind Barcelona legend's incredible achievement

Lionel Messi reached yet another milestone during Barcelona's 2 -2 draw against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. The Barcelona skipper scored with a cheeky panenka penalty, putting the defending LaLiga champions in front, only for Diego Simeone's die to equalise and nullify their advantage. The Messi panenka penalty was the Messi 700th career goal, becoming only the second active player after Cristiano Ronaldo to reach that mark. Here's a look at the numbers behind Messi 700th career goal, the Messi Barcelona career, and the Messi Argentina goals. 

Also Read: Messi Scores 700th Goal, Barcelona Held 2-2 By Atlético Madrid

Lionel Messi 700 goals: Messi Barcelona goals and stats

During the Leo Messi Barcelona career, the Argentine icon has hit a staggering 630 goals across all competitions and is the highest scorer in the club's history. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner has managed to score once in every 0.87 games, having made 724 appearances for the Catalan giants. Messi has 441 goals in 480 matches in LaLiga, having scored his first on May 1, 2005, against Albacete. No player has scored more goals than Messi in this period, with the next best at least 130 goals behind. The Argentine international has netted 114 goals in the Champions League, 53 in the Copa del Rey, 14 in the Supercopa de Espana, three in the UEFA Super Cup, and five in the Club World Cup.

Also Read: Lionel Messi 700th Career Goal Comes With Cheeky Panenka Vs Atletico; Watch Video

Lionel Messi 700 goals: Messi Argentina goals and stats

Lionel Messi is the top scorer in Argentina's history, having netted 70 goals in 137 appearances for La Albiceleste. Messi has scored 34 goals in international friendlies and 21 in World Cup qualifiers while netting nine in the Copa America, and six at the World Cup. He's the third most capped player in the country's history behind Javier Mascherano and Javier Zanetti and needs only 10 more appearances to surpass the duo. 

Lionel Messi 700 goals: Messi's year-wise records

Since 2009, Lionel Messi has netted more than 40 goals for 11 consecutive calendar years, with the Argentine crossing 50 on nine occasions. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner has the record for most goals in a single calendar year, netting an incredible 91 in 2012, beating Gerd Muller's 85. Messi has already scored 12 in 2020, despite the three-month suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Also Read: Lionel Messi And Setien Should Resolve Barca Rift Over A Cup Of Coffee, Says Diego Simeone

Messi 700 goals: How and when does Messi score?

Lionel Messi has scored a staggering 43.32 percent of his goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half or last 15 minutes of the second. The Barcelona legend has netted 142 goals from set-pieces; with 90 penalties and 52 free-kicks. The Argentine international has only scored 24 headers in his career, with the last one coming in March 2017. Messi has netted 83.1 percent of his strikes (582) with his left foot and 82.8 percent (580) from inside the opposition box. He has scored three or more times in 54 different matches, the most being five against Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012 had has recorded the most LaLiga hat-tricks in history. 

Messi 700 goals: Messi's favourite opponents

Sevilla are seemingly Lionel Messi's favourite opponents, with the Argentine scoring 37 goals in 39 games against them in all competitions. Next best on the list are Atletico Madrid, with Barcelona legend having scored 32 in 41 games against them. Messi has scored 26 goals in 43 games against arch-rivals Real Madrid, making him the highest scorer in El Clasico history. The Argentine international has faced 40 different LaLiga teams and scored at least once against 37 of them, with Xerez, Real Murcia and Cadiz being the only exceptions. Messi became the first player to score against 34 different Champions League opponents, surpassing Real Madrid legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul on 33. 

Also Read: How Barcelona And Juventus will Profit From The Arthur-Pjanic Swap Worth A Combined €137m

Messi 700 goals: Messi's favourite teammates

Luis Suarez has turned out to be Lionel Messi's favourite teammate with the Uruguayan forward having assisted Messi 47 times in six seasons with Barcelona. The Argentine has returned the favour 36 times. Dani Alves has set up Messi 42 times, while Andres Iniesta (37), Xavi (31), Pedro (25), Neymar (22) and Jordi Alba (20) are next on the list. Messi himself has registered 247 assists during his Barcelona career and has been involved in 879 of their 2,183 goals in all competitions amounting to staggering 40.2 percent. 

(Image Credit: Leo Messi Instagram)