At 38, when most of the footballers take retirement and relax at home with family, Lionel Messi continues to make headlines as the Argentina superstar reached a historic 1300 goal contributions milestone on Sunday. The Inter Miami star scored one and assisted thrice to power his team to a dominant 4-0 win over FC Cincinnati to advance to first Eastern Conference final.
Scoreless in the last three encounters against Cincinnati, Messi opened the scoring on Sunday when he headed home a short cross from Mateo Silvetti to give Inter Miami the lead in the 19th minute.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner then helped Tadeo Allende score a brace and Mateo Silvetti to power Inter Miami to a pivotal win at the TQL Stadium. Additionally Messi also tied with legendary Hungarian Ferenc Puskas for most assists in history.
With this performance, Messi became the first footballer in the history to reached a milestone of 1300 goal contributions. Since making his debut Barcelona debut in 2004, Messi now has scored 896 goals and 404 assists.
Following the win, Messi took to social media to express his excitement. “LET'S GOOOO!!! reat match from the whole team against a rival that had always given us so much trouble. One step closer…,” wrote Messi. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Inter Miami will meet the winner of Philadelphia Union vs New York City FC.
How far is Cristiano Ronaldo from 1300 mark?
In comparison with Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, who grabbed the headlines recently with a bicycle kick for Al Nassr, is just 87 goal contributions shy of Messi's 1300-mark. The Portuguese captain is currently sitting at 954 goals and 259 assists, thus totaling 1213 goal contributions. Ronaldo needs just 46 goals to reach his 1000-goal mark.
To add more to that, Ronaldo reached his 1213 goal contribution record in 1298 matches while Messi completed his 1300 goal contribution record in just 1135 appearances.
Lionel Messi's 1300 goal contribution breakdown
FC Barcelona: 941 goal contributions — 672 goals & 269 assists
Paris Saint-Germain: 66 goal contributions — 32 goals & 34 assists
Inter Miami: 117 goal contributions — 78 goals & 39 assists
Argentina: 176 goal contributions — 114 goals & 62 assists