Barcelona‘s record all-time goal scorer Lionel Messi added another accolade to his rank as he eclipsed Pele’s long-standing record of goals for a single club with his 644th strike in the 3-0 win at Real Valladolid on Tuesday night.
Messi scored in the second half of the game to take his tally above the mark which the Brazil great had amassed over 19 seasons for Santos.
Clement Lenglet put Barcelona in front after receiving a cross from Messi inside the first 21 minutes, while Martin Braithwaite who was handed a start ahead of Antoine Griezmann knocked in a second before half-time.
Ronald Koeman’s men however closed out the win – their first away La Liga win since the start of October to occupy the fifth spot in the table, eight points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who had earlier won at third-placed Real Sociedad.
Watch the highlights of the match below
Messi scored his first goal for Barcelona in 2005 and has won 10 La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues in his spell at the club, however, he is out of contract at the end of the season and able to talk to other clubs from January.
In August, the Barcelona great said he wanted to exercise a clause in his deal which allows him to leave on a free transfer, but Barcelona refused, saying his 700m euro (£624m) release clause had to be met.
Messi said earlier this week that the incident caused him to have “a very bad time in the summer”, although he delivered a superb performance against Valladolid on Tuesday.
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