Lionel Messi's goal against Eibar last Sunday has the Argentine Barcelona star breathing some extremely rarified air.
There is no doubting that as soccer fans, we are living in an extremely special time. Normally, if you're lucky, there will be one generation-defining player to marvel at each weekend. The likes of Pele, Diego Maradona, and George Best. However, we currently have two in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and they might well be the two best players of all time.
Not only are the pair perhaps the most talented soccer players the world has have ever seen, but they are also very different players. Messi is a skillful one-club man who has won and done it all with Barcelona. Meanwhile his equally talented arch-rival Ronaldo plays a completely different style and has traveled to different countries and different leagues in order to make a name for himself across all of Europe.
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Despite everything the two of them have already achieved, Messi and Ronaldo continue to break records. Actually, Messi in particular. Barcelona defeated Eibar 3-0 on Sunday to maintain its lead at the top of La Liga, and Messi made a little bit of history along the way. The Argentine's goal, which put Barca 2-0 up, was his 400th goal in La Liga. A massive milestone for a number of reasons.
For starters, no player has ever scored 400 La Liga goals until now. That record becomes even more impressive when you discover that no player in the history of European soccer has managed to score 400 goals in a single league. The only blemish? That man Ronaldo. The Portuguese superstar has scored 400 league goals in Europe, however, a fair few of those were in the Premier League with Manchester United.
Messi can rest easy, though. Even though Ronaldo is second on the all-time La Liga top scorers list, he is 89 goals adrift of Messi. Plus, Ronaldo is at Juventus now so won't be adding to that total any time soon. Messi's next closest challenger, when it comes to active players, is Athletic Bilbao's Aritz Aduriz on 157 goals. No offense to the Spaniard, but we can't imagine the 37-year-old is going to catch up to the Barca star at this point.
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