Barcelona had to struggle to earn one point against Valencia earlier today, and even with only one point in the bag, striker Lionel Messi had reasons to celebrate in the team's dugout.
The Argentine ace leveled the game just before the halftime break with an open-goal header, giving Barcelona the chance to bounce back in the second half. What really stands out is that, with this goal, Messi leveled Pelé's goalscoring tally with Santos (643), which means he is know the joint-top scorer with a single team along with the Brazilian legend.
643 - Lionel Messi has scored 643 goals for @FCBarcelona in all competitions, equalling Pele's record for Santos. King. pic.twitter.com/oXPD7XGI5S
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) December 19, 2020
Unfortunately for Messi, this is not the only record he is close to matching, as he also failed to convert a penalty prior to this goal. "Messi matches Quini as the player with the second highest number of missed penalties."
#OJOALDATO - Messi iguala a Quini como segundo jugador con más penaltis fallados en TODA la historia de La Liga:
— MisterChip (Alexis) (@2010MisterChip) December 19, 2020
15 Hugo Sánchez.
13 MESSI y Quini.
12 Tamudo.
11 Cristiano Ronaldo, Dani, López Ufarte y Señor.
10 Fernando Torres.
The Argentine footballer will have a new chance to become the all-time top scorer with a single club this week, when Los Blaugranas face Real Valladolid on Tuesday.