Superstar footballer, Lionel Messi, hit a historic milestone on Wednesday night, March 18, scoring his 900th career goal to become just the second player in elite men’s football to reach the mark, following Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 38-year-old Argentine World Cup winner scored with a left-footed strike in Inter Miami’s 1-1 draw with Nashville SC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Messi’s milestone came 21 years after his first senior goal for Barcelona at age 17 in 2005.
The first leg ended in a 0-0 draw, so Wednesday’s result means Miami is eliminated from the CCC on the away goals rule, as a strike by Nashville’s Cristian Espinoza proved decisive when he cancelled out the early goal from Messi to send his team through.
Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan paid tribute to Messi after the game, saying: “900 goals, congratulations to him. He’s the best.”
The Argentina captain joined Cristiano Ronaldo as the only men’s players to reach 900 goals with his strike Wednesday. Ronaldo achieved the feat in September 2024.
Ronaldo has 965 goals and has made it clear he wants to clear the 1,000-goal threshold before retiring. It took Messi 1,142 games to get to 900, while Ronaldo needed 1,236 matches to reach the mark.
Brazilian great Pele stands third on the all-time list with 765. Among active players, Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski is a distant third behind Ronald and Messi, with 690.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner went into Wednesday’s match with 899 goals since his professional debut with Barcelona on Oct. 16, 2004.
The majority of Messi’s goals come from his time in Spain with Barcelona. He totaled 672 before adding to his tally with 81 at Inter Miami and 32 at Paris Saint-Germain. Internationally, the reigning World Cup champion has recorded 115 goals for the Argentina national team.
The most prolific year of Messi’s career came in 2012, when he scored a combined 91 goals for Barcelona and Argentina.
His recent goal-scoring efforts propelled him to the 2025 MLS Golden Boot; he netted 29 goals throughout the regular-season campaign to become the league’s top scorer. He also earned the 2025 MLS MVP award, becoming the first player to win the award on consecutive occasions.
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