Lionel Messi’s hat-trick against Sevilla on Saturday gave him yet another record, in this case one that had stood for 59 years. With 253 Liga goals now to his name, the Argentinian ace is out on his own at the top of the Spanish league’s all-time scoring charts, replacing the legendary Telmo Zarra, who chalked up 251 goals before retiring in 1955.

“My father would have been happy to lose his record to Messi,” said Carmen Zarra, the daughter of the fabled Athletic Bilbao striker, speaking on Radio Catalunya a few days ago. “We’re mad about Athletic in my house, but I’m sure my father would have loved Messi because he seems like a very upright person on and off the pitch. He’s someone people can look up to.

“We’re not annoyed about it, not at all,” she added. “The record had to be broken one day. Nearly 60 years have gone by and it’s time someone beat it, though I’ve got to be honest and say that I would have liked an Athletic player to do it.”

Comparing footballers can be a complex task, one that sometimes fails to do justice to the players involved, especially when they hail from two wholly different eras. Mindful of that, FIFA.com recalls the careers of these two goalscoring magicians and puts their achievements into context.

Career span
It took the Athletic striker 15 years to amass his record tally of 251 goals, though it should be pointed out that the Spanish league featured only 14 or 16 teams in the days when he was terrorising defences. Operating in a 20-team league since making his debut on 16 October 2004, Messi has taken just over a decade to eclipse Zarra.

Strike rate
Those statistics do not tell the whole story, however. Zarra scored his 251 goals in 277 matches, an average of 0.9 per game, a shade better than the diminutive Argentinian, whose 253 goals have come in 289 outings, a strike rate of 0.87 per game.

Season records
The voracious Athletic forward was the Spanish league’s pichichi (top scorer) on six separate occasions, with his record 1950/51 haul of 38 goals remaining out on its own until 1990, when Real Madrid’s Mexican striker Hugo Sanchez equalled it, albeit in 35 matches to Zarra’s 30. The record stood until 2011, when Cristiano Ronaldo racked up 41 goals in 34 games, only for Messi to raise the bar even higher the following season in scoring 50 goals in 37 matches, one of three occasions on which La Pulga has taken the pichichi award.

Age
The Basque striker retired when he was 35, while Messi is only 27 and has several years in which to add to his record goal tally. The Argentinian was just 17 when he made his league debut, with Zarra stepping out for the first time at the age of 19.

One-club men
Messi broke another of Zarra’s records back in February this year, beating his mark of 335 goals for a single Spanish club in all competitions. The Basque front man did all his goalscoring for his beloved Athletic. Likewise, Messi has never found the back of the net for any club other than Barcelona.

THE MYBOYSAY NATION’S WORLD OF SOCCER ENTHUSIASTS WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE LIONEL MESSI ON HIS GREAT ACHIEVEMENT.