It’s official: Lionel Messi is the greatest goalscorer in the history of European football.

Now you may be thinking; but isn’t he from Argentina, which is in South America?! Yes, yes he is, but Messi has spent the entirety of his professional football career in Europe. In fact, he first joined Barcelona at the age of 13, before going on to cement himself as the club’s greatest ever player.

Messi scored a whopping 672 goals in Catalonia, which is the main reason why he’s now recognised as Europe’s greatest ever goal-getter. Now, obviously the award is for goals scored on the continent at club-level only.

If international goals in Europe had been included, Cristiano Ronaldo would be comfortably top of the list compiled by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (the most trusted source when it comes to football-related stats).

But they’re not, so it’s Messi who is now one clear of his eternal rival at the summit, thanks to his recent goal for Paris Saint-Germain away at Nice. Who are the greatest goalscorers in the history of European football?

Let’s take a look at the 13-man list in full:

13. Uwe Seeler (Germany) – 509 goals

12. Robert Lewandowski (Poland) – 515 goals

11. Gerd Muller (Germany) – 526 goals

10. Fernando Peyroteo (Portugal) – 539 goals

9. Jimmy McGrory (Scotland) – 540 goals

8. Glenn Ferguson (Northern Ireland) – 563 goals

7. Abe Lenstra (Netherlands) – 591 goals

6. Joe Bambrick (Northern Ireland) – 608 goals

5. Jimmy Jones (Northern Ireland) – 636 goals

4. Ferenc Puskas (Hungary, Spain) – 640 goals

3. Josef Bican (Austria, BM, CS) – 690 goals

2. Cristiano Ronalo (Portugal) – 701 goals

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 702 goals

Lionel Messi of Barcelona celebrates a goal near Cristiano Ronaldo

Yeah, we can’t see Messi losing his crown any time soon.

Well, unless Ronaldo decides to abandon his Al-Nassr adventure and return to European football for one last hurrah, which looks increasingly unlikely.

But even if that did materialise, Messi may well significantly add to his own goal tally, as the 2022 World Cup winner is only 35 and appears to have plenty of years at the top left in the tank.

In 2022/23, Messi has scored 19 goals and assisted a further 18 in just 34 PSG appearances, which is all the evidence you need to support that point.

• A Give Me Sport report