Lionel Messi reaches another landmark with goal & assist for PSG against Nice
Another Lionel Messi appearance invariably prompts the toppling of another landmark record.
Pep Guardiola, Messi's manager for four years at Barcelona, once opined: “Don't write about him, don't try to describe him." The superlatives ran dry long ago, leaving dizzying numbers as the next imperfect medium to convey Messi's brilliance.
An unrelenting stream of mathematical milestones may not capture the spellbinding intricacies of his game, but Messi racked up a figure so hefty on Saturday night that it offered a fair reflection of his magnitude among the game's pantheon of greats.
Sweeping the ball into the corner of the net, Messi put Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 up against Nice with the 702nd senior goal of his club career. When the World Cup winner swung a 76th-minute corner onto Sergio Ramos' head, he created PSG's match-sealing second with his 298th assist.
By the end of the night, PSG had limped to three more points but Messi came away with a far more significant milestone; recording 1,000th combined goals and assists at club level.
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Various data providers have different criteria for what constitutes an assist. As early as August 2022, Transfermarkt claimed that Messi had surpassed four digits in club goal involvements. However, numerous outlets have agreed upon Messi's match-winning contribution against Nice as the milestone marker.
Messi's long-term statistical sparring partner Cristiano Ronaldo has also surpassed 1,000 direct goal contributions in his club career. Yet, the veteran forward - who is two-and-a-half years older than Messi - was nudged behind the Argentine in the record books on Saturday night.
Before skulking off to Saudi Arabia after a deliberately provocative interview with Piers Morgan engineered an escape route out of Manchester United last winter, Ronaldo recorded a staggering 701 goals for European clubs. Messi surpassed that figure when he delicately directed Nuno Mendes' low cross beyond the dive of Nice's Kasper Schmeichel on Saturday.
It was the 35-year-old's 30th for PSG since arriving in the French capital two years ago. After enduring teething problems in his debut campaign, Messi has directly contributed to 37 goals across all competitions for PSG this season, averaging a goal or an assist every 81 minutes. Yet, this has not been enough to avoid boos and whistles from PSG's fans in recent weeks. Playing in front of an unimpressed Nice crowd, Messi had to settle for the hostility of the opposition support on Saturday.
The bulk of Messi's gluttonous haul came during his 16 years as a Barcelona first-team player. No individual has ever scored more goals for one club in men's football than Messi's sickening 672 for Barcelona.
As a teenager looking for a club that could fund the growth hormone treatment he desperately needed, Messi's family compiled a video of the tiny youngster juggling various objects - and other more orthodox footage. A tally of 113 keepie-uppies with an orange and 140 with a tennis ball helped persuade Barcelona to take a chance on the Rosario native.
Even from childhood, numbers only offer a glimpse of Messi's talent. Even if they are mightily impressive figures.
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