Barcelona's Top Goal Scorer Before Lionel Messi Still Holds Unbeaten Records

Lionel Messi may have already surpassed Barcelona’s first goal scorer Paulino Alcantara, but the Filipino-Spanish legend still holds a few titles in the club.

Messi was at his best form when he scored the second of his hat-tricks against Osasuna in 2014. He was 26 years old at the time and became Barcelona’s new leading scorer. This marked the day Messi beat Alcantara, the Filipino soccer legend who unbelievably held the record for almost 90 years.

To put this into context, The Post recently revealed that Barca’s own statisticians had recorded Alcantara with a total of 142 goals in official matches and 227 goals in friendlies. However, due to the fact that the sport evidently lacked the technology to record each and every stat back in the day, Alcantara is believed to have scored even more.

Before Messi entered the scene, Alcantara was Barcelona’s top goal scorer with 395 goals in 399 games before he was finally overtaken by the Argentine star. He was regarded as the club’s first superstar and reports claim that Alcantara did not fail to deliver since his debut against Catala SC on Feb. 25, 1912. He was reportedly 15 years old at the time.

Diving deeper into Alcantara’s legendary debut, the Barcelona legend scored three goals on the very first day he set foot on the pitch to give the club its first ever hat-trick in a 9-0 blowout win. Messi may have stolen a few of Alcantara’s records over the years, but he remains Barcelona’s youngest debutant and youngest goal scorer as well. What’s even more thrilling about Alcantara’s Barcelona debut was the fact that he became the first Asian player to play in European soil.

Alcantara’s stay in Barcelona was quite short but very meaningful. After Barca founder Joan Gamper spotted Alcantara’s talents, he quickly signed the youngster up from local side Galeno. Alcantara wasted no time and helped Barcelona win a Copa del Rey and Championat de Catalunya double in 1913 then a Championat de Catalunya in 1916, before returning to the Philippines.

The legacy of Alcantara did not end in Barcelona. In fact, he even became a medical student while playing for Manila side Bohemian Sporting Club where he won back-to-back national championships in 1917 and 1918.

Aside from Alcantara, Johan Cruyff was also one of the founding fathers of Barcelona. But unlike Alcantara, Cruyff was more celebrated and even had the chance to personally witness Barcelona develop its future superstar Messi.