Messi breaks another Ronaldo record

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi scored two goals and provided two assists to lead Inter Miami to a big win today (Sunday). The Florida club thrashed the New York Red Bulls 5-1. Messi also set several records in the match. One of them is the record for the most goals scored in professional football, excluding penalties. This was previously held by his arch-rival, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Miami fell behind in the 15th minute of the MLS match against the Red Bulls. However, they equalized in the 24th minute through Jordi Alba. Messi passed him a pass through a few defenders. Through this, the Albiceleste star has directly contributed to 30 or more goals in 19 consecutive calendar years since 2007. Messi has continued the streak he started for Barcelona at PSG and Inter Miami.

Messi also contributed to Miami’s next goal. A couple of minutes later, Alba received Messi’s cross into the box, then Telasco Segovia turned it into the net. The Venezuelan midfielder scored his second goal in stoppage time of the first half. The other two goals for Miami came from Messi’s feet. In the 60th minute, he scored his first goal of the match, taking the ball past the goalkeeper on a long pass from Sergio Busquets. After 15 minutes, Luis Suarez received a pass from Benjamin Cremaschi and crossed from the top of the box. The Albiceleste star first brought it down with his chest and then beat the goalkeeper with a left-footed shot.

With that goal, Messi broke Ronaldo’s record for the most goals scored in a non-penalty. Until now, the record of 763 goals without penalties was held by the Portuguese star. However, the Al-Nasr star forward is still at the top (938 goals). With today’s double goal, Messi’s non-penalty goals have reached 764, surpassing Ronaldo. However, as both of them are still in their careers, the record may change hands again and again. In this case, LM Ten has played 167 fewer matches than the late CR7. In total, Messi has scored 874 goals.

Messi also became the fifth player in MLS history to score at least 35 goals and 25 assists in two seasons. The others on this list are Robbie Keane (2013-14), Sebastian Giovinco (2015-16), Carlos Vela (2018-19) and Cucho Hernandez (2023-24).