Everything about Lionel Messi is special.
The Argentine star is the chosen one in world football and he’s now reached 600 goals in just 683 official matches. That’s an average of 0.87 goals per game.
To make that record even more special is he reached 600 in the Champions League semi-final, 14 years since he scored his first goal in Barcelona colours. It was also his 350th goal at the Camp Nou and Liverpool became victim number 76 (out of the 85 teams he’s faced). Alisson Becker was the 151st goalkeeper he’s scored against too.
With such a high number of goals, it allows us to divide that up into seasons, competitions, his favourite opponents, goalkeepers, days of the week, etc. The results are incredible.
NUMBERS
The most impressive numbers for Messi come in LaLiga. He’s scored 417 times in 450 matches, averaging 0.92 goals per game. 350 of those have come at the Camp Nou (345 matches). In 2012 Messi scored an incredible 91 goals in all competitions! His best total across a season came in 2011/12 when he registered 73 in total.
Messi has scored the majority of goals with his left foot: 501 of his 600 to be precise (81.5%). The others came with his right foot (85), his head (55), one with his hand and another with his chest. Of those 600 goals, 501 were scored from inside the area and the other 99 from outside the penalty box.
INTERESTING STATS
Some curious stats are that Messi scores the most goals in matches which start at 20:45. He’s scored 153 times in 173 matches (it’s also his most common playing time). He’s got on the scoresheet in 23 of the 25 different kick off times he’s played in. He’s failed to score in 20:15 matches (twice) and at 21.45 (once).
The best day of the week, in terms of goal return, is Saturday. Once again this is also the day in which he’s played the most matches. In total, he’s bagged 214 goals in 245 matches. For Sunday it reads 177 goals in 176 matches. He’s scored 117 in 144 matches on Wednesdays. The other days are Monday (4 goals in 4 matches), Tuesday (72 in 86), Thursday (14 in 22) and Friday (2 in 6).
As for the best months, the best one for Messi has been March. He’s scored 85 times in 70 matches. Next is January (85 in 70) and September (69 in 71). The Argentine has played matches in every month apart from July. His worst month is June as he’s only played three matches in that month, although he did score four goals in them. This year he could play in his fourth June match if Barca knockout Liverpool next week.
STATS
Here are some extra stats on Messi’s goals:
By teams
He’s played against 85 rivals and scored against 76 of them. Sevilla are his favourite opponents (36 goals in 37 matches). Next are Atletico Madrid (29 in 38) and Valencia (27 in 32). After that is Real Madrid (26 in 41). Messi has failed to score against the following teams: Udinese, Murcia, Gramenet, Cádiz, Al-Sadd, Xerez, Benfica, Inter and Rubin Kazan.
By goalkeepers
The goalkeeper who has suffered the most against Messi is Diego Alves (for both Almeria and Valencia) with 21 conceded. After him is Iraizoz (19), Casillas (17), Andrés Fernández (17) and Diego López (14). In total Messi has scored against 151 goalkeepers: the first was Valbuena (Albacete) and the last Alisson Becker (Liverpool).
By numbers
Messi has scored a goal in 212 matches. He’s scored braces in 123 matches (last came against Liverpool), hat-tricks in 39 contests, four (poker) in five matches and five just the once (Bayer Leverkusen).
By competitions
When you divide Messi’s goals by competitions it reads like this: 417 in LaLiga (240 at the Camp Nou and 177 away from home), 112 in the Champions League (66 at the Camp Nou, 44 away and 2 at neutral grounds), 50 in the Copa del Rey (33 at the Camp Nou, 13 away and 4 at neutral grounds), 13 in the Supercopa de España (11 at the Camp Nou and 2 away), 5 in the Club World Cup and 3 in the UEFA Super Cup.