Lionel Messi reaches legendary record of 1,300 goals: how close is Inter Miami star Cristiano Ronaldo?

Lionel Messi was the star of Sunday evening, not only by sending it InterMiami to their first MLS Eastern Conference final, as well as reaching the historic milestone of 1,300 contributions to career goals. The performance immediately revived comparisons with its old rival, Christiano Ronaldo.

InterMiami entered Sunday with the goal of reaching their first conference final, visiting FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. In a memorable performance Messi opened the scoring with a stunning header and followed with three assists in a dominant 4-0 road win for the Herons.

With his latest masterclass, Messi became the first and only player in history to score 1,300 goals. Since his debut for Barcelona in October 2004, and with every club and the Argentina national team, the number 10 has now reached the total 896 goals and 404 assistssecuring his place at a level few players have ever approached.

Breakdown of Messi’s contributions to 1,300 goals per team

For FC Barcelona, ​​​​Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and the Argentina national team, Messi’s historical figure is distributed as follows:

• FC Barcelona: 941 target contributions — Scored 672 goals and provided 269 assists.
• Paris Saint Germain: 66 goal contributions — Scored 32 goals and provided 34 assists.
• InterMiami: 117 target contributions — Scored 78 goals and provided 39 assists.
• Argentina: 176 target contributions — Scored 114 goals and provided 62 assists.

To underline his current form over his last nine matches, including the end of the MLS regular season, the play-offs and two friendlies against Argentina, Messi has contributed 24 goals (12 goals, 12 assists). In addition to reaching a milestone that no player had achieved before, Messi’s level shows no signs of slowing down just months away from the 2026 World Cup.

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Video: Cristiano Ronaldo scores an impressive bicycle kick goal for Al Nassr vs. Al Khaleej club in Saudi Pro League match

How far is Cristiano Ronaldo from Messi’s 1,300 goals?

Cristiano Ronaldo also made the news on Sunday by scoring an overhead kick goal for Al Nassr, a goal that immediately drew comparisons to his iconic Champions League strike for Real Madrid against Juventus. But in terms of total goal contributions, the Portuguese superstar is still behind the Inter Miami captain.

After Sunday’s goal Ronaldo has 954 goals in his career, and combined with his 259 assists, his total rises to 1,213 goals. He remains the second most productive player in the history of the sport and is approaching the 1,000 goal mark, but Messi has a clear lead of +87 goals.

However, the most striking comparison emerges when the games played are taken into account. Ronaldo reached 1,213 goals in 1,298 games, while Messi reached the 1,300 mark in just 1,135 appearancesremarkable efficiency from two of the greatest players the sport has ever seen.