Lionel Messi posts heartfelt message after breaking Pele's all-time goalscoring record

Barcelona megastar Lionel Messi continues to shatter the record books and achieved an iconic milestone on Tuesday as he surpassed Pele’s record of scoring most goals for a single club. Messi helped Barcelona win 3-0 against Valladolid in La Liga and also surpassed the landmark in his trophy-laden career. 

Messi scored his 664th goal for the La Liga giants on Tuesday and surpassed Pele’s record of 643 goals for Brazilian club Santos from 1956 to 1974. After surpassing Pele’s record, Messi took to social media platform Instagram to share a heartfelt post as he thanked his family, teammates and his well-wishers.

"When I started playing football, I never thought I would break any records, especially the one I broke today, which was Pele's. I can only thank everyone who's helped me all these years, my teammates, my family, my friends, and everyone who supports me every day," Messi wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

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While Messi scored 644 goals in 749 matches, Pele was far quicker in getting to the milestone as he took just 655 matches for Santon to score 643 goals. Messi netted his first Barca goal in 2015 and has gone on to play 17 seasons with the Catalan giants. The Argentine maestro has won 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League trophies with Barcelona. 

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Recently when Messi equalised Pele’s record, the Brazilian lavished praises on the Barcelona star.

"Congratulations on your historical record, Lionel. But above all, congratulations on your beautiful career at Barcelona. Stories like ours, of loving the same club for so long, unfortunately will be ever rarer in football. I admire you a lot," Pele wrote in a social media post.