The battle continues! Messi surpasses Ronaldo in non-penalty goals

Despite his age, Lionel Messi continues to prove he is one of the greatest players of our time. This week, Messi delivered two hat-tricks in two matches. First, he helped Argentina dismantle Bolivia, and last night, coming off the bench for Inter Miami, he found the net three times in just eleven minutes.

Thanks to this prolific form, Messi has now surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo in the list of top scorers when excluding penalty goals.

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Details: Messi’s goals last night brought his career tally to 849. While Ronaldo remains the all-time top scorer with 907 goals, 168 of those came from the penalty spot. In contrast, Messi has scored 109 penalty goals. This means that last night Messi netted his 740th non-penalty goal, overtaking Ronaldo, who currently has 739, according to data from messivsronaldo.app.

It’s worth noting that Messi reached this milestone in significantly fewer matches. The Argentine achieved his 740 goals in 1,078 games, while Ronaldo needed 1,245 matches to score 739 non-penalty goals.

Additionally, last night’s hat-trick brought Messi closer to Ronaldo’s record for most career hat-tricks. Ronaldo has 66, while Messi now has 59.

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Reminder: Lionel Messi and Inter Miami triumphed in the regular MLS season. Following this, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that Inter Miami will represent the host country at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.