Lionel Messi left Barcelona last summer due to the club’s financial problems and joined French side PSG. He made a slow start to life at PSG in his first season which was unlike the Messi we are used to seeing.
However, Messi has made a great start to the 2022/23 season. He has now already scored 2 goals and provided 1 assist in his first Ligue 1 game. The 2nd goal against Clermont Foot was an absolute beauty. The Argentine scored a perfect bicycle kick. He controlled Leandro Paredes’ long ball with his chest and hit a perfect bicycle kick which flew over the keeper’s head and into the net.
Lionel Messi creates history with his bicycle kick goal as he becomes the third highest goalscorer in football history
According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Messi is now level with Romario as football’s third-highest goalscorer of all time. They both scored 772 goals.
The IFFHS list has only Josef Bican (805) and Cristiano Ronaldo (815) ahead of the two South Americans. Pele is fourth with 767 goals.
PSG manager Christophe Galtier said, via Marca: “It’s just Leo. There’s nothing more to say. We all know what he’s capable of.”
“He’s been playing at a very high level for 17 years, he had a tough season last year as he was getting used to things. But every previous season he scored at least 30 goals.”
“Now he’s had a full pre-season to prepare, he’s settled with his family but also in the team, and now there’s no reason to think that he won’t have a great season.”
“We’ll see a lot of attacking power when he plays with Kylian [Mbappe].