The Weekly Take, Issue 45: The Greatest Goalscorer of All Time

Everyone knows that in any football match, it is always the goalscorers who hog the limelight and take the majority of the plaudits.

Over the years, there have been some truly remarkable marksmen who have taken to the pitch and staked their claim as the greatest goalscorer in football history.

Players such as Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Pelé, Gerd Müller, and Cristiano Ronaldo come to mind.

However, during the previous matchday, the player who has surpassed them all as a scorer reached a milestone that may never be equalled.

In Barcelona’s La Liga game against Eibar, Lionel Messi scored the 400th La Liga goal of his career. It was the second goal in Barça’s 3-0 victory over the Basque club.

Let that figure sink in for a moment. Four hundred league goals. With every single goal having been scored in a major league.

I can already hear some of you saying “but what about Pelé/CR7/ whoever”?

I will now proceed to show why Lionel Messi is the greatest goalscorer in the history of football.

Although he was a part of three World Cup-winning teams and scored 650 career league goals, I cannot put Pelé over Messi for two obvious reasons: he never played in a major league, and the overall level of competition was not as deep in the 1960s as it is today. Admittedly, he has scored 18 goals in international tournaments to Messi’s 14. However, I would definitely say that 400 La Liga goals is more impressive than 650 Campeonato Brasileiro and NASL (the MLS before the MLS, for the uninformed) goals.

Similar to Pelé, Ferenc Puskás also played in a weak era and only played in a major league for the last eight seasons of his career. Furthermore, his career total of 598 goals is by far the lowest of all the feasible greatest goalscorer candidates.

By far the most common comparison to Messi is Cristiano Ronaldo. However, as a goalscorer, even the Portuguese legend does not stack up well against his Argentine rival.

Although Ronaldo has scored 409 major-league goals in his career and like Pelé, has 18 international tournament goals, his career total of 673 goals has come in 932 official games, while Messi has found the net 667 times in 842 official games. Game-for-game, it isn’t even close. And before anyone says “but Ronaldo won the Euro!”, this is not about titles. I’m strictly talking about goalscoring prowess.

Next, we come to Gerd Müller.

Müller boasts an unbelievable goal-to-game ratio, with 722 in 770 across all his official games. However, a considerable number of his goals came in less important matches. He scored 417 goals in either a major-league game, the European Cup, or an international tournament. Messi, on the other hand, has 520 in such high-leverage games. To me, the 103 extra goals in important games outweigh the 55 career goals more that Müller scored.

But it’s not just about the “how many” that make Messi so great, but the “how” as well.

Although his left foot is truly legendary, he can do it with his right and even the occasional header in spite of his short stature.

One-on-ones, set pieces, tap-ins, long-rangers – you name it, Messi can score it.

No other player has ever been as prolific or has had quite the goalscoring repertoire of “La Pulga”. Whether playing for Barça or Argentina, there is a reason that Messi is the most feared goalscorer there has ever been. Even his mere presence on the field is a game-changer, for it affects the other team’s approach to the game.

Arguably even more astonishing is the fact that, despite now being on the wrong side of 30, Messi’s goalscoring rate does not seem to have dipped at all.

Would I say that Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time?

I would not. To me, that accolade goes to Diego Maradona; however, I have Messi second all-time behind his World Cup-winning compatriot. That said, I do believe that Messi is closing the gap with each passing year.

But, as I mentioned, where there is no debate is as a scorer. In the more than 100 years of professional football, there has never been a player who has been able to put the ball in the net quite like Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini.