Messi closes in on Pele and Mueller

Messi closes in on Pele and Mueller

Lionel Messi took his career scoring tally beyond the 300 mark with his brace in Madrid against Rayo on Saturday. The player, still only 25 years old, has now scored 301 goals in all competitions in his professional career. These two strikes also took Messi closer to breaking the all-time scoring record for a calendar year. The player has now found the net 73 times in 2012, placing him third behind Pele, who scored 75 goals in 1959, and Gerd Muller who scored 85 times in 1972.

We could go on all day with more numbers, but I think you get the picture: Lionel Messi is a goal scoring machine.

Image: Angel Martinez/Getty Images