Lionel Messi scores 600th goal, Barcelona forward reaches milestone in style

Lionel Messi marked his 600th goal for Barcelona in style with a magnificent free-kick to cap off their 3-0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final at the Nou Camp.

The Argentine forward had scored a tap-in to record goal number 599, before taking aim from 25 yards with a majestic strike that whistled into the top corner of the Liverpool net.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to Messi’s brilliance afterwards: “I knew before Lionel Messi was a world-class player and now I saw it again I’m not surprised.

“In those moments, he is unstoppable. What a strike.”

It was a wonderful goal but the 31-year-old was humble afterwards, saying: “It was beautiful when it went in but I was lucky that the ball lodged up there in the corner.”

Maybe Messi’s first of the evening was fortunate, Luis Suarez’s effort hitting the bar and landing perfectly for him to score, but his second was simply stunning.

Former England defender Rio Ferdinand said he felt ‘blessed’ to have witnessed the moment that Messi reached 600 goals – 14 years to the day that he scored his first, a delicate lob against Albacete in La Liga on 1 May 2005.

How he’s done it

Messi has scored 600 goals in 683 games for Barcelona, a staggering record of 0.9 goals per game. His closest challenger, Cesar Rodriguez, hit 232 goals, last playing for Barcelona in 1954.

By scoring against Liverpool, Messi has now registered against all six English teams he has faced in the Champions League, the only other player alongside long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo to net against six teams from the same country (also English teams) but he has scored 14 more against English clubs than the Portuguese.

His Champions League record is 112 goals, second only to Ronaldo who has 126.

source bbc.com