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On Saturday, it was a case of Lionel Messi carrying a big load once more. Messi scored 4 goals in Barcelona’s 5-0 win against Eibar at the Camp Nou.

The goals took Messi over the 1,000 mark in career goals and assists (full international and club games). Messi turns 33 in June but rather than easing his burden the Barcelona brain-trust has created a situation where the team is more reliant on the Little Magician’s skills more than ever.

Messi has scored 23 goals in 28 games for Barcelona so far this season and he has some other scoring milestones in his sights.

Messi is within 4 goals of reaching the 700 mark in career first team games for Barcelona and full internationals for Argentina. Another 13 goals/assists for Barcelona will take Messi to 900.

Stats from Transfer markt.com and games in age level internationals etc. are not included.

Lionel Messi by the numbersMessi stats BM
Coming up this week, Barcelona is away to Napoli in the round of 16 of the Champions League and Real Madrid in El Clásico.

Since turning 30, Messi has averaged 0.90 goals per game. If he can maintain that level, it is very possible that he can pass the 700 goals mark for Barcelona and 800+ in total is also a realistic target.

But where would that put Messi in the all-time list of goalscorers?

That is a more difficult question than it might seem. The biggest issue is verifying some records attributed to certain players, particularly prior to World War 2. It is difficult enough to separate the chaff from the wheat in Europe let alone the world. Even a soccer-crazy nation like Brazil has struggled to validate record claims.

An accepted source of expertise is the RSSSF (Soccer Statistics Foundation). RSSSF’s record keeping includes games played at the age-group international levels and in recognized domestic leagues. This makes the numbers a bit higher than the ones usually quoted by journalists and pundits.

You can click on the link here to take you to Wiki page that has the RSSSF list of the 28 players who have scored more than 500 goals.

The highest goalscorer of all-time? According to RSSSF that would be Josef Bican who scored 805 goals - or more? - in a career that lasted from 1931-1955. Romario, Pele, Puskas come next and Cristiano Ronaldo completes the top 5.

The great Gerd Mueller separates Ronaldo and Messi. Messi and Ronaldo are the only two active players in the top 15 and, it would appear, both have a fantastic chance of passing Bican’s 805 goals......or more.

Stats from Transfer markt.com and games in age level internationals etc. are not included.

CR#7Cristiano Ronaldo by the numbers BM
RSSSF credits Ronaldo with 743 career goals to date and Messi with 723. (There is an age difference to consider with Messi younger by 18 months.)

Nevertheless, Ronaldo is showing no signs of slacking off. He’s scored 25 goals for Juventus in 30 games this season. Since he turned 30, Ronaldo has also scored at a rate of 0.90 goals per game while playing for Real Madrid and Juventus.

At his present scoring rate Ronaldo could hit 800+ in around 60 games or the equivalent of less than 2 normal seasons.

It is worth remembering that over the next 24 months, in addition to the normal domestic competitions, there is the European Championships (Cristiano Ronaldo), and the Copa America (Lionel Messi) this summer, followed by World Cup qualifying for and then the 2022 World Cup.

Lots of games and chances for both Ronaldo and Messi if they can avoid injury.