Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi became the first player to score 400 goals in one of Europe’s top five leagues on this day in 2019.
Messi reached the landmark in his 435th league game for Barcelona, a 3-0 win against Eibar at Camp Nou in a season where he would win his 10th and final La Liga title.
“The figures speak for themselves,” Messi’s coach at the time, Ernesto Valverde, said after the match.
Messi – 400 goalsCristiano – 311 goalsZarra – 251 goalsHugo Sanchez – 234 goalsRaul – 228 goals
Leo Messi is the top scorer in #LaLigaHistory! 👑⚽️ pic.twitter.com/M5jLHKYmy7
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) January 13, 2019
“We don’t know if anyone will ever get close to those statistics but he is unbelievable.”
Cristiano Ronaldo, who throughout his career has vied with Messi to be regarded as the greatest player of their generation, was the first to score 400 goals in Europe’s top five leagues.
The Portuguese star reached the landmark in October 2018 but it took him 63 more appearances to achieve it, and his goals were spread across the English, Spanish and Italian top flights.
At the time Messi reached 400 goals, he had scored 31 hat-tricks for Barcelona, including four occasions where he scored four.
👑🐐 His goat-ness. pic.twitter.com/n671ZPBphs
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 13, 2019
By the time Messi announced his departure from Barcelona in an emotional farewell in August 2021, he had scored an all-time record 474 La Liga goals.
Salary restrictions meant Barca could not afford to keep him, and he moved on to Paris St Germain before joining Inter Miami last summer.
Messi sealed his legacy as one of the all-time greats by leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in 2022.
