26 goals, 19 wins – Messi’s incredible Clasico stats

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 17 May 2021 16:23 BST
• 3 min read

Lionel Messi will go down as one of the greatest players of all time and certainly the greatest player in the history of the Clasico for Barcelona.

However, this weekend we may see the legendary Argentine feature in the biggest match on the planet for the very last time should he leave Barcelona at the expiration of his contract this summer.

Although rumours of an exit have died down in recent months due to the Blaugrana’s increasingly good form domestically, Messi is still unhappy at the Camp Nou and could decide to leave the club if a more enticing offer comes in from elsewhere.

FootballTransfers previously revealed exclusively that Paris Saint-Germain merchandise vendors had been informed to expect Messi’s arrival in Paris this summer.

So, with his last ever Clasico potentially on the horizon, lets look at how Messi has terrorised Real Madrid over the years.

Clasico all-time top scorers

As you can see from the table above, Messi is, by far, the top goalscorer in the history of the Clasico, having netted 26 times in 44 appearances for the Blaugrana so far.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Alfredo Di Stefano are joint-second having scored 18 times for Real Madrid.

When it comes to goals per game, Ronaldo just beats Messi with an average of 0.6 to the Argentine’s 0.59. However, Messi vastly outperforms Ronaldo, and everyone else, in assists as he has set up more goals in the Clasico than any other player with 14.

At the moment, Messi is one appearance behind Sergio Ramos for the most in Clasico history, meaning he could tie with the Madrid captain this weekend should he feature and Ramos doesn’t, with the Spaniard currently a doubt for the match due to injury.

There are only five players who have scored two hat-tricks in the Clasico: Messi, Jaime Lazcano, Santiago Bernabeu, Paulino Alcantara and Ferenc Puskas.

From Messi’s 26 goals against Real Madrid, he has scored 23 with his left foot and three with his right foot.

One of the right-footed goals was one of his most famous, as he slalomed his way through the Blancos defence for a magical moment in the Champions League semi-final first leg in 2011.

More Messi stats v Real Madrid

Messi has taken six penalties against Real Madrid (outwith shootouts) and has a conversion rate of 100%, having never failed to hit the back of the net from the spot.

Since the 2009/10 season, he has taken 99 shots on goal, 44 of which have hit the target which is a superb success rate of 44.4%.

Also in that time he has completed 122 dribbles and made 57 key passes which, again, is more than anyone.