Messi records 1,000th goal contribution, breaks Ronaldo record in PSG win
One week after being jeered by his own fans, Lionel Messi scored one goal and set up the other as Paris Saint-Germain won at a wasteful Nice 2-0 to maintain its six-point lead of the French league on Saturday.
Messi now has over 1,000 goal contributions at the club level with 702 goals and 298 assists, FOX Sports reported.
Argentina’s World Cup-winning star clipped in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 26th minute. That goal put him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo for the most goals scored in Europe (702).
Then Messi’s corner from the left was headed home by veteran defender Sergio Ramos in the 76th minute.
Messi leads Ligue 1 in assists with 13 assist in nine matches.
In last weekend’s home defeat to Lyon, Messi was booed by some PSG fans, leading to increased speculation he could leave this summer. Messi reportedly has an offer from Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal worth $440 million per year but also has interest from Barcelona and MLS side Inter Miami CF.
The victory saw PSG bounce back from back-to-back home defeats in the French top-flight.
Those losses had left the Qatar-owned club with eight defeats in 18 games in 2023 and piled the pressure on head coach Christophe Galtier amid reports he may not even see out the season.
A win for nearest challengers Lens on Friday had cut PSG’s lead at the top of the table to just three points before this game, and before the top two meet in Paris next weekend.
“It was a difficult match. We knew we had a lot of pressure on our shoulders both because of our poor performances and because of Lens winning, and especially because Nice are a really good team who have been on a great run,” Galtier told broadcaster Canal Plus.
“It was definitely not our best performance of the season but the players fought for each other and it is obviously three important points.”
He added: “It is better to have a six-point lead than be chasing after a six-point deficit but we know we have a very important match next weekend.”