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Lionel Messi Moves Clear Of Cristiano Ronaldo To Top List Of All-Time Leading Scorers In Europe's 'Big Five' Leagues

Lionel Messi moved clear of Cristiano Ronaldo to go top on the all-time list of leading scorers across Europe's 'big 5' leagues. Messi now has 496 such goals.

Robert Summerscales

Lionel Messi Moves Clear Of Cristiano Ronaldo To Top List Of All-Time Leading Scorers In Europe's 'Big Five' Leagues
Lionel Messi Moves Clear Of Cristiano Ronaldo To Top List Of All-Time Leading Scorers In Europe's 'Big Five' Leagues /

Lionel Messi scored the 496th league goal of his club career on Saturday night.

Messi's latest strike, scored 59 minutes into a 1-1 draw away at Strasbourg, helped Paris Saint-Germain win France's Ligue 1 title for the 11th time in the club's history.

The goal also saw Messi set a new record for the most goals scored across Europe's 'big five' leagues.

Those big five leagues are Ligue 1, La Liga in Spain, England's Premier League, Italy's Serie A and the German Bundesliga.

Messi scored 474 goals in 520 La Liga games for Barcelona, while Saturday's strike at Strasbourg was his 22nd goal in 57 Ligue 1 outings for PSG.

Lionel Messi pictured celebrating after scoring for PSG in a 4-2 win over Nantes in March 2023
Lionel Messi has scored more goals in Europe's big five leagues than any other player :: IMAGO/HMB-Media/Antonio Borga

The 35-year-old had previously been tied on 495 big-league goals with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal legend Ronaldo, 38, no longer plays his club soccer in one of Europe's top leagues, having moved to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

But over the last two decades Ronaldo has scored 103 Premier League goals for Manchester United, 311 in La Liga for Real Madrid and 81 in Serie A for Juventus.

Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in 16 Saudi Pro League matches since joining Al Nassr.

But that has not been enough to fire his side to the league title.

Al-Ittihad were crowned champions of Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2009 on Saturday.

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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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