How Many Goals Has Lionel Messi Scored in his Career?

The little boy from Rosario ended up becoming widely known as the greatest footballer of all time. Lionel Messi is a joy to watch on a football pitch, attracting many fans from all around the globe to seats in the stadiums he appears at. His technical ability on the ball and his incredible range of passing are some of the abilities that he has that put him at the top of the game, but he also has extraordinary goal-scoring numbers.

Three years ago, Leo Messi played his 1,000th career match.

He scored the opener and led Argentina to a 2-1 victory in the World Cup round of 16 against Australia 🇦🇷✨ pic.twitter.com/FjL9qV1Dy9

— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 3, 2025

He has spent most of his career at Catalan giants Barcelona, making 765 appearances over a 17-year period, but since leaving, has carried his goalscoring prowess to France with Paris Saint-Germain and the United States with Inter Miami, who he currently plays for. Throughout his career, he has scored a vast range of goals with both feet and from set pieces also.

How Many Goals Has Lionel Messi Scored In His Career?

The 38-year-old Argentine has had an illustrious career that has lasted 21 years so far and he doesn’t have any plans of retiring just yet. For club and country, he has scored a total of 896 goals with a goal-to-game ratio of 0.77 goals per game.

Included in that total are 115 international goals, unsurprisingly making him the record holder for Argentina. In 2022, he topped off his international career by winning the greatest trophy in the history of the sport, the World Cup, which was the moment that cemented him as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time).

🇦🇷 Lionel Messi’s career rankings

⚽️ 896 goals 🥈
🎯 405 assists 🥇
🏆 47 trophies 🥇
🤝 1301 G/A 🥇

Greatest of all time! 🐐 pic.twitter.com/ccojPWTp0Z

— Sholy Nation Sports (@Sholynationsp) November 30, 2025

Which season was Lionel Messi’s most successful season?

2014/15 is widely regarded as Lionel Messi’s most successful season in his career, both on an individual and team basis. During this season Messi scored 58 goals and provided 27 assists in 57 appearances for Barcelona, which contributed to the club winning the UEFA Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey. On the international stage, he also added 8 goal contributions in 10 appearances. These performances earned him the Ballon d’Or award, which signifies what a fantastic season it was for the footballing genius.

Which are Messi’s best 5 goals in his career?

5. Goal vs Athletic Club 2013

This isn’t the only goal against Athletic Club in this list. This goal began with Messi getting the ball in the middle of the park before using some quick feet to skip past a few challenges and then finishing into the bottom left corner, which left his teammate Cesc Fabregas in shock at just how close control he had of the ball the whole time.

4. Goal vs Liverpool 2019

This happened to be Messi’s 600th goal for Barcelona and it was definitely one of the hardest to score. On the occasion of the UEFA Champions League semi-final, to score from the distance that the free kick was taken from would have taken something truly special. And that is exactly what the little magician produced when he placed the free kick over the wall and perfectly into the top corner out of the reach of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.

3. Goal vs Real Madrid 2011

Another Champions League semi-final score and this one came in an El Clasico. Messi loved scoring in these derby games with 26 goals in total but this was without doubt the best of the bunch. He received the ball from Sergio Busquets before drifting past a number of Real Madrid players at pace, leaving them all behind and slotting the ball into the bottom left corner.

2. Goal vs Getafe 2007

At just 19 years old and so early on in his career, this is still undoubtedly one of his greatest goals in his whole career. The goal is very similar to the famous one that Maradona scored against England in the 1986 World Cup. He began in his own half with the ball and went on a blistering run, beating half of the Getafe team and skipping past multiple slide tackles before taking the ball round the keeper and calmly finishing into an empty net. Truly Astonishing!

1. Goal vs Athletic Club 2015

This is just an example of what an incredibly talented individual Lionel Messi is. The goal began with Messi picking the ball up at the halfway line and standing his defender up. He then glided past three defenders with the ball practically stuck to his feet before getting into the box and then firing a low effort past the goalkeeper at his near post. The reaction from the whole of the Barcelona team once the ball hit the back of the net shows what an incredible goal it was in such a big moment in the Copa Del Rey final.