3 weeks ago
20
Barcelona legend
©TM/IMAGO
Lionel Messi is unquestionably one of the greatest footballers in history with many believing the Argentinian eclipses all his distinguished peers. The 38-year-old’s trophy collection is the envy of most players and he’s the record winner in the Ballon d’Or with eight awards - three more than Cristiano Ronaldo. At his best at Barcelona, Messi was simply mesmerising to watch as he glided past players with ease and he still possesses a wand of a left foot.
The diminutive attacker represented the Catalan giants on 778 occasions and he’s Barcelona’s record goalscorer with 672 goals. While his club career faded in relevance when he joined PSG in 2021, Messi inspired his nation to the ultimate glory when Argentina won the World Cup in 2022. The iconic figure is now enjoying his twilight years at Inter Miami and he registered his 100th goal contribution last weekend with three assists against New England. Messi required just 80 games for Inter Miami to reach that milestone and we’ve analysed which players needed the fewest games to reach 100 goals and assists for an MLS club.
Which players have registered 100 goal contributions for MLS clubs in fewest games?
Unsurprisingly, Messi is the fastest player to reach the milestone, and by some distance. The Argentina captain amassed 100 goal contributions for Inter Milan in 20 fewer games than second-placed Sebastian Giovinco. Messi’s third assist against New England was his 101st goal contribution with 66 goals and 35 assists. Former Juventus star Giovinco enjoyed a prolific end to his career with Toronto with 131 goal contributions in 142 games, and the Italian needed 100 games to bring up his century.
As the graphic above illustrates, Carlos Vela ranks third with the former Mexico international requiring 101 games to bring up the century of goal contributions for LAFC. Vela was highly-regarded as a youngster at Arsenal but his career truly flourished in the MLS. Several other famous faces feature in the top ten list, including Robbie Keane for LA Galaxy in sixth and David Villa for New York City in eighth.
