That number was a world record for the most goals by a player for a single club. The fact that a certain Romário claims to have scored more than 1,000 goals, including international goals, is only mentioned in passing in this context.

Messi took nine fewer games than Pele to score 643

But since yesterday, Pele broke this record. Because with the goal against the ché from Valencia, Messi’s number of hits for the Blaugrana now adds up to these 643 goals – but in nine games fewer. While Pele needed 757 games for his record, la pulga got by with 748 games.

And nobody seriously doubts that Messi will at least score again in the remaining games of the season – and thus can claim the record for the number of goals.

Pele’s congratulations on the record – and on Lionel Messi’s career

The dethroned Pele still had no problem congratulating his Argentinean alter ego: “Congratulations on your historic record and, above all, on your great career at FC Barcelona, ​​Lionel. When your heart overflows with love, it’s hard to take a different path “, O Rei referred to Messi’s loyalty to his club for a decade and a half.

“Like you, I know what it means to wear the same jersey every day for the same club. And, like you, I know that there can be nothing better than playing football in a place where you are at home feels “, the 80-year-old Brazilian posted on his Instagram account.

“Stories like ours, about the love for a single club for such a long time, are becoming increasingly rare in today’s football. I admire you very much, Leo Messi!”

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But Rojo made a surprise appearance in the box to turn home a cross from Gabriel Mercado from the right with a crisp side-footed volley in the 86th minute to send the Argentine fans in Saint Petersburg — including the watching Diego Maradona — into raptures.

The Manchester United defender had escaped conceding a second penalty for Nigeria minutes earlier after a controversial VAR review.

“It is marvellous to have won it in this manner. It is a deserved joy,” Messi said in quotes on Argentina’s official Twitter account.

“We knew God was with us and wasn’t going to let us go out.

Their struggles came after their pre-tournament preparations were wrecked by controversy and poor form, coupled with a reliance on a top-heavy, limited squad.

The Argentine federation was even forced to confirm that Jorge Sampaoli would continue for the final group game amid rumours of a rift between players and coach.

At the drama played out in Saint Petersburg, 1,500 kilometres (950 miles) away in Rostov-on-Don, Croatia snuffed out the challenge of Iceland, scoring late through Ivan Perisic to seal a 2-1 win and complete a perfect group stage.

Croatia were already through to the last 16 and coach Zlatko Dalic rested most of the side that thumped Argentina 3-0, with only captain Luka Modric and the winger Perisic keeping their places.

“Our goal is achieved,” said man-of-the-match Badelj. “We are top of the group and we are ready to compete in the second round of the World Cup.

Earlier, France and Denmark produced the first goalless match of the tournament in front of 78,000 spectators at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Didier Deschamps rested goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and midfielder Paul Pogba among six changes and his side struggled to create any clear-cut chances against a determined Denmark.

Deschamps immediately switched his focus towards what he called the “second competition” after the uninspiring contest.

“There’s a second competition that’s going to start, the last 16 is straight elimination,” said the coach, who must now prepare his players to face Messi and Argentina.

“There’s a mountain in front of us now. But we’re there and we’re full of ambition to get to the next stage.”

Australia will go back to the drawing board after they ended bottom of Group C with a solitary point following a 2-0 defeat to Peru, who are also heading home.

Andre Carrillo and Paolo Guerrero, the veteran who was only cleared to play days before the tournament after having a ban for taking cocaine lifted, scored in Sochi.

Tim Cahill, the 38-year-old Australian midfielder, came on as a substitute for his first appearance in his fourth World Cup but was unable to influence the outcome and the Socceroos will have to look to the future with talents such as 19-year-old Iranian-born Daniel Arzani.

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Messi’s teammates have rallied around their superstar captain after his spot-kick was saved in the 1-1 draw against minnows Iceland on Saturday.

Messi is bearing the weight of expectations as Argentina seek a first World Cup trophy since 1986, desperate to crown his glittering career with a major international tournament success.

However so far in Russia, Messi has been overshadowed by Ronaldo, who took his tournament goal tally to four on Tuesday with the winner in Portugal’s 1-0 defeat of Morocco, which condemned the Africans to an early exit.

A defeat against the Luka Modric-led Croatians in Nizhny Novgorod could see Argentina, unthinkably, flirting with a first group stage exit since 2002.

“We are all with him, he knows that he can count on the support of all of us more than ever,” said Argentina striker Paulo Dybala of Messi.

“We are here to help him every moment, and of course we will be at his side,” Dybala added.

– Croatia under a cloud –

Fancied France could only edge past Australia 2-1 courtesy of an Antoine Griezmann penalty and an own goal in their Group C opener but have vowed to ramp up the intensity against Peru in Yekaterinburg.

“We took stock of what was done well or not so well and all agree that we will have to increase our physical intensity and improve our attitude in general,” said France vice-captain and central defender Raphael Varane.

“Other teams (among the favourites) did not win or even lost. We won, but we know that there are things to improve on. We know what direction we need to go in.”

The defeat to France mean the Socceroos are targeting a win against Denmark in Samara on Thursday to have a realistic chance of qualifying from the group stages.

“But we’re not trying to focus on that. We’ll definitely focus on them as whole and as a collective.”

Wednesday’s other matches saw Spain edge past Iran 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s fortunate third goal in two matches which put them level at the top Group B with Portugal

Iran, who had a precious second-half equaliser ruled out for offside by VAR, lie just a point behind the Iberian pair and can still guarantee qualification for the knockout stages for the first time by beating Portugal on Monday.

Uruguay knocked out Saudi Arabia Wednesday with a 1-0 win which confirmed the South Americans and hosts Russia as qualifiers from Group A with a game to spare.

The result means an early exit for Mohammed Salah’s Egypt who will be heading to Volgograd airport along with the Saudis for a plane home after their clash in the historic city formerly known as Stalingrad on Monday.

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The double took Messi to 100 Champions League goals while his opener, coming after 129 seconds, was the fastest goal of his illustrious career.

Messi has frequently been linked with a big-money move to the Premier League but Conte is convinced the striker will retire at Barcelona.

“I think Leo wants to stay until the end of his career with Barcelona,” Conte said.

“We’re talking about an impossible situation. I repeat: we must have great respect for this player. We are talking about a fantastic player.

“I think he wants to stay in Barcelona for the end of his career. I think it’s the right way for him. He’s writing with his team-mates a great story with Barcelona.”

After full-time, Conte left the field with a congratulatory arm around Messi’s shoulder but Chelsea had chances too, most notably through Marcos Alonso and Antonio Rudiger, who both hit the woodwork.

Alonso also thought he should have been awarded a penalty in the second half after he went down under the challenge of Gerard Pique.

Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud believes his team deserved more.

“Obviously on both matches I regret the posts or bars that we could have. You have to have some success, a little luck,” Giroud said.

“What will stick in the throat is the penalty not given where it is quite obvious that Marcos is pushed in the back or he would have at least tried to shoot. It’s very hard, I think it would have changed the game.”

Messi, however, once again proved the difference, applying two clinical finishes through Thibaut Courtois’s legs and, in between, teeing up Dembele to score his first Barcelona goal.

“He knows in certain moments stars have to come out. He forces himself to do that,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said.

“There’s no guarantee that he’s going to score, but he is a fantastic player. We enjoy him. We’re lucky enough to be seeing something that will go down in history.”

Off the field, however, Barcelona may face questions from UEFA about the treatment of spectators before the game outside the stadium.

Chelsea have invited any fans who experienced problems to contact the club.

A Chelsea spokesman said: “We are aware of reports of incidents outside the ground before the game where a number of Chelsea fans were hurt.

“We ask that our supporters contact us with accounts of their experiences of this evening’s arrival at the stadium so that we can take this up properly with the authorities.”

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Brazil were fortunate enough to escape most of the drama, having already qualified as group winners, but they still had a say in who would join them in Russia next year.

Argentina, finalists three years ago but outside the four qualifying spots going into their match in Ecuador, fell behind in the first minute but a Lionel Messi hat-trick guaranteed his side one of the three automatic berths still up for grabs.

“Luckily, we reacted quickly after Ecuador scored,” Messi said after the celebrations in Quito had died down following Argentina’s 3-1 win. “Thank God, we fulfilled our objective.”

Uruguay also went behind at home to Bolivia, to an own goal from Gaston Silva after 24 minutes, but they forged ahead with two goals in each half to finish second in the 10-team group behind five-time World Cup winners Brazil.

Martín Cáceres, Edinson Cavani and two Luis Suárez strikes gave the home side a commanding lead before Diego Godin’s own goal completed the scoring in a 4-2 win for the hosts.

A second-half goal from Paolo Guerrero kept Peru in with a chance of a first World Cup appearance since 1982 when his brilliant free-kick in Lima cancelled out Colombia’s opener from James Rodríguez.

Peru, unbeaten in their last six qualifiers under Argentina manager Ricardo Gareca, failed to secure the win that would have ensured automatic qualification but have the consolation of a home-and-away playoff against Oceania champions New Zealand.

“To be in this position was one of our targets for the qualifiers,” Gareca said after the 1-1 draw. “There are 180 minutes left. We know that it is difficult but we know that it is up to us.”

Five-times champions Brazil had already qualified before their game against Chilein Sao Paulo but a 3-0 home victory saw the visitors drop from third to sixth in the standings, failing to even qualify for the inter-continental playoff.

Three second-half goals, one from Paulinho and two from Gabriel Jesus, enabled the group leaders to extend their unbeaten run in the group to 17 games.

“We finished in top spot with a great win against a strong team,” Jesus said. “We were focused.”

The result marks the end of a brilliant run by the Chileans, who won the last two Copa America tournaments in 2015 and 2016 and qualified for the last two World Cups.

“My soul is destroyed,” Arturo Vidal, the midfield dynamo who missed the match through suspension, wrote on social media. “Thanks boys, for everything, for all these years together giving our lives in every game.”

Paraguay also missed out after they lost 1-0 at home to bottom side Venezuela when a victory would have seen them clinch the playoff berth instead of Peru.

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That request was rejected and Barcelona, threatened with a six-point deduction according to their club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, if they did not play the game, took the decision 20 minutes before kick-off to play it behind closed doors, leaving thousands of supporters stranded outside. A statement from La Liga said the match should take place as normal because the security and safety of fans had been “guaranteed” by the Catalan police.

“We have not been able to find a way to postpone it,” Bartomeu said. “From there, all together, directors, executives and players met and we decided, exceptionally, to play the game behind closed doors. Els Mossos [the Catalan police force] told us the game could be played normally. Playing this way, with the stadium empty, the club shows its disagreement [with the decision not to postpone the game]. The league told us we would lose six points, three from today and three as a penalty.”

Las Palmas had the national flag embroidered on to their match-day shirts to show their support for a united Spain while Barcelona emerged for the warm-up wearing a yellow-and-red-striped shirt – the colours of the Estelada flag associated with Catalan independence. Earlier on Sunday the defender Gerard Piqué tweeted a photo of him voting in the referendum. “Together we are unstoppable defending democracy,” he said. After the match, speaking to the gathered media, a teary-eyed Piqué described the match as “the hardest game to play”.

The result of the match itself ensured Barcelona extended their perfect start to the season, earning a seventh league win. Ernesto Valverde’s side have now scored 23 goals this season, conceding only twice. And by keeping Las Palmas at bay on Sunday afternoon Barcelona recorded their 1,000th La Liga clean sheet.

Amid an eerie and strange atmosphere Barcelona started slowly and Las Palmas dominated much of the first half. Jonathan Calleri, the former West Ham United striker, rattled the post three minutes before the interval after good work by Oussama Tannane, who unselfishly laid the ball off.

But at half-time Valverde, the Barcelona manager, sought personnel changes, introducing Andrés Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic in place of Aleix Vidal and Paulinho. The latter impressed in the first half but headed wide after arriving late into the box to meet Sergi Roberto’s deep cross, while the substitute Iniesta was later withdrawn with a hamstring injury. Barcelona began the second period with much more intent and were rewarded for their efforts after 49 minutes, with Sergio Busquets glancing home at the near post from Lionel Messi’s corner.

Then Barça grew in stature, with Rakitic twice seeing his shots blocked by Mauricio Lemos, the Las Palmas defender. But Messi came up with a second goal, rounding the goalkeeper, Leandro Chichizola, with ease after latching on to Denis Suárez’s defence-splitting reverse ball. Seven minutes later the game was over, with Messi starting and finishing a slick move for his 14th goal of the season.

After Rakitic fed Luis Suárez, the Barcelona forward flicked the ball with his first touch into the path of Messi, who tucked it home. Luis Suárez did find the net himself but his acrobatic effort was ruled out after he was adjudged to have committed a foul in the build-up to his overhead kick.

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