Stats: Lionel Messi achieves 600 goal milestone in fewer games than Cristiano Ronaldo

What's the story?

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi made the headlines after scoring a decisive brace against Liverpool last night to take his overall club tally to 600, a milestone that longstanding rival Cristiano Ronaldo achieved only a few days ago.

While the Juventus star reached the 600-goal mark sooner, statistics have revealed that his Argentine counterpart did it in fewer games.

In case you didn't know

It appears Messi is taking his pre-season promise of European glory very seriously as the Argentine scored yet another decisive brace in the Champions League, giving his side a crucial advantage against Liverpool in their semi-final fixture.

The 31-year-old tripled Luis Suarez's opener against the Premier League outfit to take his Champions League tally to 12 goals, which is the highest in the competition this season.

The Argentine maestro's goals against Liverpool put him on the record books of the game as they took his overall club goal tally to a staggering 600, a milestone that Ronaldo only recently reached with a sublime effort in Juventus' 1-1 draw with Inter Milan.

The heart of the matter

While Ronaldo crossed the 600-goal mark sooner, statistics in Fox Sports Asia have revealed that Messi achieved the milestone in 118 fewer games than the Juventus star.

The Barcelona captain scored his 600th club goal in his 638th game while Ronaldo took 800 club games to achieve the same number of goals.

With 240 assists to his name so far, Messi is also ahead of his former La Liga rival in club assists. Ronaldo has tallied up 213 assists in his club career so far, which is 27 shy of the Barcelona ace.

What's next?

Barcelona are scheduled to face Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday night while Juventus will lock horns with Torino in the Serie A on Friday.