Messi gunning for major league crown

Lionel Messi is a rapacious record-breaker. He has smashed all sorts of records in recent seasons and this year he has twice added his name to the history books, dethroning two legends in Telmo Zarra and Raúl as the top scorer in La Liga and the Champions League respectively. The Argentine's running total stands at 257 goals in the Spanish top flight and 75 in Europe's premier club competition.

Now, with the new year looming, the Barça man has another target in his sights: becoming the leading marksman in the history of Europe's biggest leagues. He is already within striking distance of surpassing the current records in the Premier League, Serie A and Ligue I, but the Bundesliga mark is somewhat further away.

Messi's 257 goals put him just three behind Alan Shearer's Premier League-highest tally of 260. It is worth remembering, however, that the Premier League was only founded in 1992: Jimmy Greaves is the all-time leading scorer in English top-flight history with 357 goals. The next person in line after Shearer is Silvio Piola, who notched 274 times in Serie A. Eclipsing the Ligue I record will likely have to wait until next season, though, as Messi is still 42 goals behind Delio Onnis, who scored 299 times in league action for Monaco.

The biggest challenge Messi faces comes from Germany. The ultimate fox in the box in football history, Gerd Müller, netted some 365 times in the Bundesliga, but there is one man who was even more prolific. Uwe Seeler managed 404 goals between the Oberliga - the Bundesliga's predecessor - and the German top flight under its current name.