Leo Messi surpasses Jimmy Greaves

Leo Messi makes record breaking look easy! The Argentinian’s career has been a constant string of goals after goals after goals … and on Tuesday night he added another four to his collection in the 6-1 win against Eibar.

That’s the fifth time he’s scored what the locals call a ‘poker’ in the same match, taking his total tally of goals at the Camp Nou to a magic 300.

Goal number 358 edges him ahead of the great Jimmy Greaves, who managed a mighty 357 goals for Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham – the highest goalscorer in the history of the top division of English football.

And he’s now just seven short of Gerd Müller’s historic 365 Bundesliga goals for Germany – and only a fool would bet against Messi surpassing that tally before the current season is over.

That would set new record for goals scored in any of UEFA's top ranked leagues.

Euro goals

But looking beyond the major championships, there are still some targets for Messi to aim for.

In Belgium, Albert De Cleyn scored 377 goals for Mechelen between 1932 and 1955. Ferenc Szusza scored 394 for Újpesti Dózsa of Hungary from 1940 to 1961, and Celtic’s Jimmy McGrory had netted 410 goals when World War II interrupted the Scottish league in 1938.

Josef Bican and Stjepan Bobek scored 500 and 403 goals in the now defunct Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian leagues.

Multi-league scorers

Messi, of course, has only ever played in one national championship, while other players have appeared in various. Indeed, the aforesaid Greavsie scored a further nine in his single season at AC Milan while Bican’s tally rises to an astonishing 518 if we also factor in his 18 goals in the Austrian league.

Second in the list of multi-league goalscorers is Ferenc Puskás with 517 goals in Spain and Hungary, while of active players, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 372 league goals in Portugal, England and Spain.