News, goals, and analysis – only on the official A BOLA app. In the final stretch of his career, Lionel Messi, 39, has one last goal in sight: to reach one thousand goals in official matches, although this is not his top priority. The Argentine star currently has 919 goals and is just 81 away from achieving a historic milestone. Despite not winning a second World Cup, Messi has already fulfilled his dream of winning a World Cup in 2022 (the only trophy he was missing), and if he maintains his current pace, he could celebrate his thousandth goal by 2028, when he will be 41 years old. In the last two and a half years, the forward has scored 98 goals in 117 matches for Inter Miami and the Argentine national team, averaging 0.83 goals per game. At this rate, he would need 98 more games to score the 81 goals he is missing. In this race, Messi is accompanied by his great rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is also pursuing the same goal. However, it is unlikely that the Argentine will reach the mark first, as the Portuguese international is only 24 goals away from reaching one thousand in official matches. It is expected that this will happen this season at Al Nassr, perhaps in what could be the last of his career (he has a contract with the Saudis until June 2027). Messi’s goal tally includes only matches from official competitions for the clubs he has represented (Barcelona, PSG, and Inter Miami) and all matches for the Argentine senior national team, with an additional 39 goals in club friendlies. In this 2026 World Cup, he scored a total of eight, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored three. Messi’s goal-scoring journey in official matches began on May 1, 2005, when he scored his first goal for Barcelona against Albacete at just 17 years old. He left the Catalan club as their all-time top scorer, with 672 goals. For PSG, he scored 32 goals, and at Inter Miami, where he has played since 2023, he has already scored 90. He is also the all-time top scorer for the Argentine national team, with 125 goals in 207 international appearances.
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