The Barcelona ace reached the landmark when he opened the scoring against Sporting Gijon on Wednesday night, and he added his 301st not long afterwards.
However, that haul only ranks him fifth among the highest scorers in Europe’s major leagues.
Bayern Munich legend Gerd Muller scored an incredible 365 times in the Bundesliga between 1965 and 1979, helping his side to four league titles.
In England’s first division, Jimmy Greaves scored 357 times for Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham. However, when you combine Greaves’ total in England with his nine in Serie A for AC Milan, that takes him to 366 top-flight goals in Europe’s major leagues.
Greaves is followed on the all-time scorers list in England’s top flight by Steve Bloomer, who notched 317 goals for Derby and Middlesbrough from 1892 to 1914, and Everton hero Dixie Dean, who scored 310 in 362 games for the Toffees from 1924.
Messi still has time to take top spot from Muller. His strike against Sporting Gijon means he has netted his 301 goals in 334 games – a rate of 0.90 goals per game. If he continues scoring at the same rate, Messi will take just 72 games to net the 65 he needs surpass Muller.
