Lionel Messi Hits 500th Goal Record, Barcelona Loses 2-1 Vs Valencia
It is a historic day for the Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi after hitting his 500th goal during the Barcelona vs Argentina game.
According to BBC, Lionel Messi’s new goal record has been a surprise since his home team, Barcelona, lost the game.
Nonetheless, it was a win for Lionel Messi’s solo career as a pro soccer player. Lionel Messi started playing professional soccer when he was 17 years old. It was also that time when he scored his first official goal.
Lionel Messi has been considered the world’s greatest soccer player. He has been Barcelona’s forward for more than a decade now and he has even played for the Argentina national team.
This is not the only historic record for Barcelona’s ace player. Lionel Messie is also the only player in the history of FIFA World Cup to win the FIFA World Player of the Year for five times, four of which were won consecutively.
Lionel Messi is ‘From Another Galaxy’
Because of his new records, Barcelona boss Luis Enrique took the time to praise their star player.
“The figure is from another galaxy.”
Lionel Messi’s outstanding records just shows how he defied all odds. Considering that Barcelona’s ace player only has one good foot, this is a feat nobody has achieved just yet.
When Messi was young, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. At 13, he went to Spain to join the Barcelona team. The team then agreed to pay for his medical treatment. Fortunately, the young Messi pulled through and he debuted at 17.
Lionel Messi was injury-prone during his younger years, but this did not stop him in making a progress in his professional football career. In just three years, he proved to Barcelona that he is a worthy warrior. In 2007, he was one of the finalists for the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
The Argentine-born sports star also represented his country in the Olympics. He won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and the Olympic gold medal during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
His senior debut was back in 2005 where people associated his gameplay as similar to the soccer icon, Diego Maradona. Both of them were left-footed and they have this certain smart play style.
As a left-footer, 81 percent of Lionel Messi’s goals were hit by his left foot. Though he scored some with his right foot and his head, he mostly used his left to ace top scores. Out of the 500 goals, 411 of those were scored from open plays; 25 were scored from direct free kicks and 64 were from penalties.
Over the past 8 seasons, he was only able to score 42 goals. Though this number is already above average, this was still lower than his 2011-2012 goal reach of 82.
Lionel Messi got most of his scores during his matches with these three soccer nemesis: Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Real Madrid.
At the same time, 309 of those successful Messi goals were done during the La Liga competition.
Lionel Messi’s 500th goal mark is superb, but it still lags behind Cristiano Ronaldo’s record which is 632 goals out of 791 games. However, since Messi scored 500 goals in his 539 games, Messi’s goals per game ratio is still higher than Ronaldo.
VIDEO: The horrible moment where Barca fans abuse Lionel Messi after the Valencia defeat. https://t.co/BB6BAYZIGR pic.twitter.com/ZUlEPK8CPv
— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) April 19, 2016
Barcelona’s entire team is also responsible for Messi’s success. Statistics show that most of Messi’s goals were assisted by Dani Alves. So far, Messi’s performance is still at the top.
Though this amazing feat has made him one of the living legends in La Liga, Barcelona still lost the war as Valencia won the game with 2 to 1. Hopefully, Barcelona, as a team, could get up once again.
[Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images]
