Lionel Messi’s career record was set with a header on Saturday against Valencia. Messi equals Pele’s record of most goals scored by a player for a single club.
The Brazilian legend Pele scored 643 goals for Santos. Messi also scored 643 goals for Barcelona. But Pele only took 665 games to score that many goals, while Messi took 748 games.
Pele congratulated Messi for his historic record. “Congratulations on your historic record, Lionel,” Pelé said. “But above all, congratulations on your beautiful career at Barcelona. Stories like ours, of loving the same club for so long, unfortunately will be increasingly rare in football,” he congratulated Messi on social media.
Barcelona’s match against Valencia ended in a 2-2 draw yesterday. Messi failed to score a penalty just before the end of the first half. Messi’s kick was saved by goalkeeper Jaume Domènech, but Jordi Alba recovered the rebound of Domènech’s save and crossed it to the far post where Messi hit the milestone goal with a diving header.