Messi Officially Overtakes Pele As 2nd Greatest Goalscorer

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Lionel Messi is now the second greatest goalscorer in the history of football despite an underwhelming first season with Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi moved to PSG last summer as a free agent and helped them to Ligue 1 glory but only managed to score six league goals in 26 appearances.

He fared much better in the Champions League, scoring five in just seven games. All in all that’s 11 goals and it takes his career tally to a whopping 764.

That’s two clear of Brazil legend Pele, who (we stress) officially scored 762 across three decades.

He’s unlikely to catch longtime Cristiano Ronaldo at the top, who sits on 813 career goals.

The Argentina international could become the second player in history to hit 800 goals though. Ronaldo personally had a strong season back at Manchester United, scoring 24 goals in all competitions.

United, however, finished sixth in the Premier League and failed to qualify for the Champions League. Their final points total of 58 is also the lowest in club history.

He’s committed his future to the Red Devils however and is keen to work under new manager Erik ten Hag.

Check out the entire list per IFFHS below:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 813 goals
2. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 764 goals
3. Pele (Brazil) – 762 goals
4. Romario (Brazil) – 755 goals
5. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary) – 729 goals
6. Josef Bican (Austria/Czech) – 720 goals
7. Jimmy Jones (Northern Ireland) – 647 goals
8. Gerd Muller (Germany) – 634 goals
9. Eusebio (Portugal) – 619 goals
10. Joe Bambrick (Northern Ireland) – 616 goals
11. Robert Lewandowski (Poland) – 563 goals
12. Glenn Ferguson (Northern Ireland) – 561 goals
13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) – 560 goals
14. Fernando Peyroteo (Portugal) – 553 goals
15. Jimmy McGrory (Scotland) – 552 goals
16. Uwe Seeler (Germany) – 551 goals
17. Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina/Spain) – 530 goals
18. Gyorgy Sarosi (Hungary) – 526 goals
19. Luis Suarez (Uruguay) – 520 goals
20. Roberto Dinamite (Brazil) – 511 goals
21. Hugo Sanchez (Mexico) – 507 goals
22. Imre Schlosser (Hungary) – 504 goals
23. Franz Binder (Austria/Germany) – 502 goals