Messi makes history: becomes all-time leading goalscorer in non-penalty goals

Dubai: Lionel Messi has scored six braces for Inter Miami in his last seven league appearances — it is a cakewalk for him.

His latest brace came against New York Red Bulls in a 5-1 thrashing, where Messi scored two goals and provided an assist in this game.

Inter Miami had lost their previous league game against FC Cincinnati, which ended Messi's remarkable run of five consecutive braces in MLS, which is an MLS record itself.

However, Miami needed to bounce back and they did it in style with their talisman at the forefront of everything they did. Red Bulls opened the scoring in this match, but Messi inspired the comeback. Apart from the goals he scored, his through ball to Jordi Alba was absolutely emphatic.

At 38, Lionel Messi has now scored 794 non-penalty goals, becoming the player with the most non-penalty goals in the history of professional football. Cristiano, 40, sits at number two with 793 non-penalty goals. However, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the record holder for most goals scored overall, standing at 938 goals from 1,281 appearances for club and country. Messi's total tally stands at 874 goals from 1,114 appearances. Pelé's figures are still up for debate, though.

When we consider assists, Messi has 386 compared to Ronaldo's 257. Messi leads comfortably if we combine both goals and assists. It's simply fascinating stuff, considering Messi is not just a goalscorer, whereas Ronaldo is playing as a pure number nine these days. Messi remains a creator, playmaker, goalscorer, dribbler and overall architect on the pitch. 

The fact that he has mastered all of this whilst still topping the non-penalty goals chart means he is simply out of this world. I haven't seen anyone better than him playing this beautiful game. Long may it continue. Meanwhile, it's the off-season in the Saudi Pro League, and Cristiano will be eager to get closer to that 1000-goal milestone when the season starts again.