Messi matches Ronaldo’s 900-goal milestone

Lionel Messi becomes just the second player in football history to score 900 goals in official matches alongside arch rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

The forward reached the milestone after scoring in Inter Miami's 1-1 Concacaf Champions Cup (CCC) second-leg game against Nashville SC on Wednesday.

After the first-leg finished goalless, Wednesday’s result saw Inter Miami knocked out of the CCC on away goals. Nashville’s Cristian Espinoza scored the crucial goal, cancelling out Messi’s early opener and ultimately sending his side through to the next round.

After falling short of the 900-goal milestone in his previous two matches, Messi made an immediate impact in the second-leg. He collected the ball inside the box, shifted onto his left foot, and drove a low effort across goal to put Inter Miami ahead within the opening 10 minutes.

However, Espinoza levelled the score midway through the second half with a brilliant finish after a chaotic scramble in the area. Miami pushed for a winner late on but were unable to find a decisive goal, ultimately seeing their Champions Cup campaign come to an end.

The Argentina captain, became only the second male player in history to reach 900 career goals with his strike on Wednesday, joining Cristiano Ronaldo, who reached the milestone in September 2024.

Ronaldo has now scored 965 goals and has openly stated his ambition to surpass 1,000 before retiring. Messi achieved 900 goals in 1,142 games, while Ronaldo took 1,236 matches to hit the same milestone.

The majority of Messi’s goals came during his time at boyhood club Barcelona, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner scored an incredible 672 goals for the club from 2004 to 2021. This amazing tally came in 778 appearances, making him Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer by a wide margin.

Ronaldo also scored the majority of his goals in Spain, netting 450 goals for Real Madrid in 438 appearances across all competitions between 2009 and 2018, also making him the club’s all-time top scorer.

Messi has netted 106 goals for Argentina, making it the second-highest total of his career for a single team. Ronaldo scored 145 goals across his two spells at Manchester United, marking the second-highest tally of his career for any club.

The World Cup winner’s third-highest goal total of his career is with current side inter Miami where he has scored 80 goals whilst Ronaldo’s is with Portugal, scoring 123 times for his nation so far.

Messi’s lowest goal tally game during his time at PSG where he netted 32 times whilst Ronaldo’s is with boyhood club Sporting where he scored 5 times.  

The rest of Ronaldo’s goals are made up by 101 at Italian club Juventus and 115 at current club Al Nassr, as Messi still has some way to go to catch the iconic number seven.