Barcelona, Argentina icon Lionel Messi scores 700th goal of career

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has scored the 700th goal of his senior career during this evening's La Liga clash with Atletico Madrid.

The 33-year-old had been stuck on 699 goals for club and country since June 16, but brought up the rarely-seen milestone with a penalty five minutes into the second half at Camp Nou.

Messi produced a Panenka penalty to beat Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak - his 630th goal for Barcelona to add to 70 he has scored at international level for Argentina.

The six-time Ballon d'Or winner's 700 goals have come in just 862 senior appearances - 724 for Barcelona and 138 for Argentina.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LEO #MESSI FOR SCORING THE 700TH GOAL OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER!

630 🔵🔴
70 🇦🇷

🐐 pic.twitter.com/slHPEwoekA

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) June 30, 2020

Messi has now scored 32 of his 700 goals against Atletico Madrid, including his 600th, and he has only netted more against Sevilla.

The Argentine is only the seventh player to have officially scored 700 goals or more, following in the footsteps of Josef Bican, Pele, Gerd Muller, Ferenc Puskas, Romario and Cristiano Ronaldo.