Messi closing in on incredible goal-scoring milestone

Lionel Messi is on the verge of yet another personal accolade.

Barcelona's Argentine magician scored twice in the opening half of Saturday's contest against Real Sociedad, giving him 498 tallies with the Blaugrana in official competitions.

Already Barca's all-time leading scorer by an enormous margin, Messi will, unless some unexpected force of nature takes over, hit the historic 500-goal mark this season. Likely at some point this month, in truth.

His second goal of Saturday's contest was a bumbled effort that will go down as one of his least spectacular tallies, but his first strike of the day was a typically wonderful left-footed effort from the bearded phenom.

Messi's brace helped Barca claim a 3-2 win over La Real, as the Catalan club matched Real Madrid's victory from earlier in the day.