Lionel Messi broke Pele’s all-time scoring milestone for their clubs by netting his 644th career goal for Barcelona on Tuesday. Messi, who helped Barcelona win 3-0 at Valladolid, had equalled Pele’s all-time scoring tally on Saturday.

His 643rd career goal for Barcelona since his 2004 debut matched Pele’s tally for Santos from 1957-74. After the achievement, Messi took to Instagram and wrote: “When I started playing football, I never thought I would break any records. Especially the one I broke today (Tuesday), which was my teammates, my family, my friends and everyone who supports me everyday.”

The Argentine ace has scored all the 644 goals wearing the Barcelona shirt across 17 seasons and 749 games. That surpassed the 643 goals that the Brazilian scored for Santos which was until now the world record.

Pele, who played his last game for Santos in 1974, was one of the greatest players ever to grace the game.

There’s another Pele record that Messi has in his sights. The 77 goals that the Brazilian scored for his country are still a South American record. But Messi has 71 for Argentina and needs just six more to equal that number.

Puyol praise

Spain and Barcelona legend Carles Puyol believes that Messi will be considered the best footballer of all time.

Puyol’s remarks come as Messi broke Pele’s record of registering the most number of goals for a single club.

“If you ask me who Michael Jordan is, I will say that he is the best basketball player in history. I think Messi will have the same status — the best footballer of all time. It is also talked about whether Michael Jordan is the best in history, and these are opinions, and sometimes it is difficult to be objective. It is difficult for a Real Madrid fan to recognise that Messi is the best,” a football-specific website quoted Puyol as saying.

“We have been lucky to have him but I really say that the numbers are there, these have not been invented and they show that he is the best,” he added.

Atletico victory

La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid moved three points clear with a 2-0 win at third-placed Real Sociedad thanks to second-half goals from Mario Hermoso and Marcos Llorente.

Atleti broke the deadlock early in the second when Hermoso headed in Yannick Carrasco’s floated free kick. The visitors, without Joao Felix who stayed in the team hotel after feeling ill, added to their lead with a vicious strike from Llorente after a lay-off from Luis Suarez.