How long until Lionel Messi will reach 1000 goals & will he do it quicker than Cristiano Ronaldo?

Cristiano Ronaldo is currently closing in on 1,000 goals, but will Lionel Messi reach that milestone in fewer matches? We’ve crunched the numbers.

As of writing, Ronaldo has scored 945 goals for club and country, meaning that he’s only 55 strikes away from making history.

In total, he’s played 1,288 games, averaging a goal every 111 minutes since the start of his professional career.

Since joining Al-Nassr in 2023, Ronaldo has averaged a goal every 98.8 minutes. If he maintains that scoring record, he’ll need another 5,434 minutes to score the required 55 goals to take him to 1,000.

That’s the equivalent of around 61 more matches, meaning that Ronaldo is likely to reach the 1,000 goal landmark on his 1,349th appearance.

“For me it’s the best mark that I can have in football, to reach, first 900 goals. After, my challenge is 1,000 goals,” CR7 said during an interview last year.

“All the goals that I score, they have video. So I can prove that it’s [real] … But if I don’t have injuries, I want that [goal tally].”

In comparison, Messi’s goal tally currently sits at 884 goals, although he’s played considerably fewer matches than Ronaldo.

We’ve already estimated that Messi is set to reach the 900-goal landmark in significantly fewer matches than it took Ronaldo, but what about 1,000 goals?

With Messi still needing 116 more goals to reach 1,000, he won’t be reaching the milestone anytime soon, but he could achieve it in fewer matches than CR7.

Since joining Inter Miami, the 38-year-old has averaged a goal every 100 minutes for club and country, having scored 77 goals in 96 games since July 2023.

That means that Messi will require another 11,600 minutes of football to reach 1,000 goals, providing that he maintains his current scoring record.

That’s the equivalent of 129 more matches, meaning that Messi could theoretically reach 1,000 goals in his 1,253rd professional appearance.

If he does manage to do that, he would definitely reach 1,000 goals in fewer games than it took Ronaldo, who’s projected to reach that figure in his 1,349th game.

Based on their current scoring records, Messi is expected to take 96 fewer matches than Ronaldo to reach the historic figure.

However, the biggest uncertainty in this debate is whether or not Messi will play another 129 more matches before he retires.

It’s been well documented that the 38-year-old has become increasingly injury-prone during his later years and could start to slow down as a result.

However, the good news for Messi fans is that he’s close to extending his contract with Inter Miami, which will keep him at the club until the end of 2027.

“He’s a player who seems to stop time and continues making a difference game after game,” Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano recently told reporters.

“If there’s something he has shown throughout his career, it’s the ability to constantly reinvent himself and add new things to his game, as if he ever needed to.

“We’re happy with the level he’s showing because, obviously, like any team in the world that has Messi, it depends on him.”

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