Lionel Messi Scores 700th Career Goal; Joins Soccer Legends Pele, C Ronaldo, Romario In Elite Goal Scoring Club

The talisman striker scored his 700th goal in style with a paneka spot kick in the 50th minute and helped his club Barcelona take a 2-1 lead against Diego Simeone's side.

LIONEL MESSI (Image: AFP/Getty)

A day after celebrating his 33rd Birthday, Argentine and Barcelona star striker Lionel Messi accomplished a major milestone in his glittering football career as he netted his 700th career goal in a Spanish La Liga game against Atletico Madrid. The talisman striker scored his 700th goal in style with a paneka spot kick in the 50th minute and helped his club Barcelona take a 2-1 lead against Diego Simeone-managed Atletico Madrid.. The Argentine forward celebrated the landmark goal demonstrating some of his trademark showmanship, clicking his fingers and winking for the cameras. It was Messi's third goal in the La Liga since the Spain's premier football league returned to action in June after the forced on hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Leo #Messi scores 700th pro goal

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 1, 2020

Messi is now second on the list of top all time goal scorers among active players, behind his fierce rival and Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal and Juventus striker Ronaldo heads the goal scoring charts list (among active players) with a staggering 728 goals.

GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! GOAL #MESSI! The GOAT converts from the penalty spot! 2-1! pic.twitter.com/iqNDUNzjSo

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 30, 2020

Messi has found the back of the net 630 times for Barcelona in 724 appearances in all competitions, while scoring 70 goals for his national team Argentina in 138 caps. List Of Top Active Goal Scorers 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Juventus): 728 goals (1,005 games) 2. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona): 700 (862) 3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, AC Milan): 540 (907) 4. Luis Suarez (Uruguay, Barcelona): 472 (637) 5. Robert Lewandowski (Poland, Bayern Munich): 466 (697) Austria's legendary footballer Josef Bican holds the record for the most goals scored with an astounding 805 goals in his career. Brazilian soccer legends Romario (772) and Pelé (767) occupy the 2nd and 3rd spot while Hungarian Ferenc Puskas (746) and German Gerd Muller (735) make up the top 5 in the all time list of top goal scorers .