Lionel Messi equals Pele’s tally of most goals scored for a single club

Leo Messi is heralded by many as the single greatest footballer to have ever lived. His first-half stoppage-time goal against Valencia in Barcelona’s 2-2 draw at home was La Pulga’s 643rd goal for Barcelona. 

The Argentinian superstar has now equalled Pele’s record of scoring the most goals for a single club, matching the legendary centre-forward’s 643 goals that he scored for Santos. 

With a fair way to go till the end of the season and an absolutely stacked fixture schedule, Messi could easily make it 650 goals for Barcelona by the end of the campaign, as well as his contract with the Blaugrana. 

Barcelona’s draw sees them at 5th place in the table, which is a fair improvement on the weeks before. Messi has been statistically worse than he has almost ever been, having barely been involved in goals from open play during the early stages of the season. 

He has also been prone to losing the ball on multiple occasions, oftentimes the most number of times in the game. 

However, he is finally starting to look like his older self as Barcelona have started to find their form, with a victory over Real Sociedad in their previous fixture. 

It is easy to criticise the Argentinian, but he always manages to find a way to make a comeback and silence the doubters. Leo Messi will be hoping to find a way to at least lead Barcelona into a top-four finish in La Liga and also guide Barcelona to a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, taking on Paris Saint-Germain in what is the most anticipated fixture of the Round of 16.