Lionel Messi at Barcelona: 672 goals in 778 games.

672 goals in 778 appearances for Barcelona is the most any player has scored for any single club in the history of the game. It is also 84% of Messi's entire club output: the other two clubs of his career account for the remaining 16% between them. At 0.86 goals per appearance across seventeen seasons, the rate never really dipped — he scored at least 45 in each of the 11 calendar years from 2009 onwards.

He arrived as a boy and left as the club's defining player. A 17-year-old Messi came on as a late substitute in a 1–0 derby win over Espanyol on 16 October 2004; his first senior goal followed on 1 May 2005, a Ronaldinho-assisted chip against Albacete. The first trophy that mattered came on 27 May 2009, when Pep Guardiola's treble-winning side beat Manchester United 2–0 in the Champions League final and Messi scored the second. He left on 10 August 2021, after 21 years at the club, on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Four of the five best seasons of his career were played here. 2011–12 produced 73 goals in 60 games, including 50 in La Liga, which is still the league record. 2012–13 brought 60 in 50 and a goal against every team in the division. 2014–15 brought 58 in 57 and a second treble. 2009–10, his first 40-goal season, brought 47 in 53 and his first Pichichi.

The individual nights are the ones people remember. Three at the Camp Nou against Real Madrid on 10 March 2007, aged 19, in a 3–3 draw — his first senior hat-trick. Four in 38 minutes against Arsenal on 6 April 2010. Five against Bayer Leverkusen on 7 March 2012, which no other player has managed in a Champions League match. A hat-trick at the Bernabéu on 23 March 2014 in a 4–3 win that made him El Clásico's all-time leading scorer. He won 35 trophies at the club.