Lionel Messi Breaks Raul's Champions League Goalscoring Record

Just three days after becoming La Liga's all-time leading goalscorer, Lionel Messi has broken another significant record, surpassing Raul's milestone as the Champions League's most prolific marksman.

Barcelona's official Twitter feed confirmed the news:

@totalBarca provided a vine of the goal:

The Blaugrana detailed how the goal was scored:

The Argentinian's tally now stands at 72 in the European competition. His brace during the 2-0 win over Ajax put him level with Raul, but the Real Madrid legend's tally was inevitably surpassed against APOEL on Tuesday.

He beats Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently has 70 goals in the Champions League, to the record.

Ronaldo will get a chance to respond when Los Blancos face Basel on Wednesday night but will be disappointed to have missed his opportunity to take the initial crown. Both players are now likely to battle back and forth until retirement to gain the greatest total, but Messi holds the advantage due to being two years younger.

Messi is an avid collector of records. He was the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a single match, while he also holds the marker for the most hat-tricks in the competition with four (against Arsenal, Viktoria Plzen, Bayer Leverkusen and Ajax), reported by Ben Hayward of Goal.com.

He famously surpassed Gerd Muller's record by scoring 91 goals in a calendar year, per BBC Sport. Prior to his latest achievement, the aforementioned publication tweeted a rundown of Messi's incredible numbers:

Messi's first Champions League strike arrived against Panathinaikos in 2005. Adam Bate of Sky Sports writes, "the goal had many of the hallmarks of Messi's game—a mazy dribble, real resilience to win the ball back and then a deliciously delicate touch to lift the ball over the goalkeeper."

He has won the competition three times (2005-06, 2008-09, 2010-11) and will be looking to reclaim the Ballon d'Or by leading Barcelona to another European success this campaign. Ronaldo did exactly that last term and began Matchday 5 with three goals to Messi's five in this season's competition, per WhoScored.com.

Pep Guardiola, Messi's former manager at the Camp Nou, recently said, "I hope with all my heart that Messi ends his career at Barca," per AS. Speculation continues to link him with a move away after the player provided Ole (h/t Ben Jefferson of the Express) with an interview which suggested he has no power of prolonging his Barca future.

Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Messi is synonymous with Barcelona's success and, considering his potential cost, wouldn't move easily.

He potentially now has a decade of breaking both the Champions League and La Liga record with nearly every goal, an incredible feat which best underlines his iconic quality.