Lionel Messi Breaks Cristiano Ronaldo Record After Scoring In PSG's Win Over Montpellier

Messi went past Ronaldo's goal-scoring tally in Europe's top-five leagues.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi (L) walks past Riyadh All-Star's Cristiano Ronaldo (R) during the Riyadh Season Cup football match between the Riyadh All-Stars and Paris Saint-Germain at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh on January 19, 2023. ( Image Source :AFP )

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) star Lionel Messi surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo in the list of most number of goals scored by a player in Europe's top-five leagues. While Ronaldo, who is currently playing for Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr, has 696 goals to his credit, Messi netted his 697th goal during PSG's 3-1 win over Montpellier on February 1.

What is also worth nothing is that Messi took 84 fewer games than Ronaldo to overtake the ex-Manchester United forward. Messi has played his entire senior career in Europe's top-five leagues while his Portuguese counterpart recently joined an Asian club after in his words he had won everything there was to be won in Europe.

Rudi Garcia believes Ronaldo will go back to Europe

Ronaldo was forced to look for a new side after his contract with the Red Devils was terminated following his explosive interview with journalist Piers Morgan. He hasn't had a great start to his competitive career in Saudi either but his coach Rudi Garcia reckons Ronaldo will go back to Europe before hanging up his boots.

Talking about the PSG-Montpellier game, after a goalless first half, Fabian Ruiz' 55th minute strike helped the Parisians take a 1-0 lead. Messi soon doubled the team's lead by scoring the goal in the 72nd minute which took him past Ronald's tally. The team's third goal was scored by Warren Zaire-Emery in the stoppage time after Arnaud Nordin had managed to pull one goal back for Montpellier in the 89th minute.

Meanwhile, the match also saw star forward Kylian Mbappe missing two penalties in two minutes before walking off the field injured. The FIFA World Cup 2022's leading goal-scorer's 8th minute penalty was first saved by the Montpellier goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte but the referee signalled a retake. In the second attempt too, Mbappe's shot was saved by Lecomte and while the 24-year-old did have a chance to go for it again on the rebound, this time his shot went over the crossbar.

Later Mbappe walked limped off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. However, PSG coach Christophe Galtier isn't too worried about Mbappe's injury at the moment.