Antoine Griezmann breaks iconic La Liga scoring record previously held by Lionel Messi under Guardiola

With a brace on the weekend, Antoine Griezmann has broken an iconic La Liga record held by Lionel Messi during his time with Pep Guardiola as his coach.

Lionel Messi reached his peak under Pep Guardiola at FC Barcelona, becoming an unstoppable scorer for one of the most dominant teams in history. Years after that defining era, Antoine Griezmann has now surpassed the Argentine star’s under the Spanish coach in a historic La Liga goalscoring record.

After a slow start, Atlético Madrid have climbed back toward the top positions in the 2025-26 La Liga season. Currently sitting fourth, the Colchoneros collected another three points on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Levante, with Griezmann scoring twice to write his name into the league’s history books.

With his weekend brace, Antoine Griezmann passed Lionel Messi as the player with the most La Liga goals under a single manager. Playing under Diego Simeone, the French star has now reached 140 league goals in 327 matches for Atlético Madrid.

By comparison, Messi produced 138 La Liga goals during Guardiola’s four-year tenure at Barcelona. However, the biggest contrast lies in efficiency: Messi needed just 126 league matches to hit that total, slightly more than a third of the games Griezmann required to reach the milestone.

While Messi’s scoring rate under Guardiola stood at over one goal per match, he is not the leader in that category. Cristiano Ronaldo holds the best rate among the modern era’s top scorers, netting 120 goals in 106 La Liga games (1.13 per match) during José Mourinho’s spell at Real Madrid.

Griezmann continues building his Atlético Madrid legacy

Since arriving at Atlético Madrid in 2014 from Real Sociedad, Antoine Griezmann has steadily built a remarkable legacy under Simeone. The Argentine coach immediately entrusted him to lead the attack at just 23 years old, and now, in his second tenure after a spell at Barcelona, and at age 34, Griezmann continues to elevate his status at the club.

In a league historically dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atlético managed to break that duopoly, with Griezmann helping capture three major trophies: the 2014-15 Spanish Super Cup, the 2017-18 Europa League, and the 2018-19 UEFA Super Cup. The French forward is also Atlético’s all-time leading scorer with 203 goals in 461 appearances, and with his contract running through June 2027, that record is set to grow even further.