Lionel Messi has broken yet another record and bypassed Cristiano Ronaldo in doing so as he takes the lead for total number of non-penalty goals scored in history.
The 35-year-old grabbed his sixth goal of the season with the winner for Paris Saint-Germain in their 1-0 victory over Lyon in Ligue 1 on Sunday to maintain his club’s place at the top of the table and open up a two point gap over Marseille.
His tidy finish after just five minutes of the contest meant that he has now scored 672 non-penalty goals during his professional career, overtaking Ronaldo’s previous record of 671 despite playing 150 fewer games than the 37-year-old.
It represents another setback in Ronaldo’s season, who had no choice but to remain with Manchester United after failing to secure a move away from the club over the summer, following on from their failure to secure Champions League football for the current campaign.
As a result of his omission from competing in European football’s premier club competition this season, Messi has been able to become the first player to net in 18 consecutive campaigns following his goal against Maccabi Haifa last week, which also saw him break another new record in scoring past 39 different opponents in the Champions League.
He was previously tied on 38 with Ronaldo, but has now moved ahead of his Portuguese rival after striking in that 3-1 win in Israel, before following that up with another record-breaker for the amount of non-penalty goals after netting against Lyon on Sunday.
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As a result of Ronaldo’s behaviour this summer, new Man United boss Erik ten Hag has opted to bench the 37-year-old for five of their first six Premier League matches, therefore reducing his playing time and ability to impact games with a goal.
Two further starts have come in the Europa League and in United’s recent 2-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol, Ronaldo finally grabbed his first goal of the season with a 39th minute penalty. Messi, meanwhile, already has six goals and eight assists from 11 games.
The Argentine endured a slow start to life at PSG last season but still ended his first campaign in the French capital with a respectable 11 goals and 15 assists across all competitions, while Ronaldo flourished at Old Trafford and finished 2021/22 with 24 goals and three assists.
But roles have slightly reversed in the current campaign, with Messi now finally hitting top gear in Ligue 1, while Ronaldo has taken a huge backwards step at United following his new role as second half substitute under Ten Hag. Nonetheless, the pair can find moments of magic from just about anywhere when required.
Across their whole careers, Ronaldo leads the way for goals scored after finding the back of the net 699 times in 941 games in all competitions for four different clubs, while Messi has scored 688 goals in 822 competitive games across all competitions for two clubs - Barcelona and PSG.
On the international stage, Ronaldo is the all-time international top goalscorer with 117 goals from 189 appearances for Portugal, while Messi is much further behind with 86 goals in 162 appearances for Argentina, although he has played fewer matches than his opponent.
