See stats that suggest why Messi does not need to prove anything outside Barca.

Following Cristiano Ronaldo move to Juventus from Real Madrid, there are those who still think that Messi must prove himself elsewhere away from Barca so as to be mentioned in the same breadth as the likes of Pele, Maradona, Zidane and of course his contemporary rival Ronaldo.

Messi has scored more than 380 goals in La Liga for Barcelona

While it is fair to say that the diminutive Argentine has conquered La Liga with more than 300 goals since breaking into the Catalan side's first team in 2004, same cannot be said of Europe, even though he has enjoyed pretty good successes against some top clubs in the continent.

With 32 major titles with Barcelona, including four(4) Uefa Champions League and nine(9) league titles, Messi remains one of the most decorated players of all time. Practically per say he has conquered the Spanish topflight, having been top scorer on more occasions than any other player in the history of La Liga.

Still his enviable and coveted achievements have not deterred some from disagreeing with the notion that the 31-year old father of three is perhaps the greatest of all time.

He has won everything there is to win with FC Barcelona, and there is a new wave of movement in the air: those who want Messi to prove himself outside Barcelona. Those in this line of thought are  however not really clear with their demand, and I can't say whether they want Messi to leave Barcelona or Spain entirely to prove himself, just as Ronaldo has done in England and Spain, or whether they want him to leave Barcelona and maybe move to another club in the topflight.

                                                           Messi has scored 100 goals in the Uefa Champions League

Messi's 100 goals in the Champions League have come against some top opponents and heavyweights of European football, with his favourite clubs on the continent being Arsenal and AC Millan.

Below we make breakdown of Messi's goals in Europe and which club he has scored most against.

Opponents by club	Games	Minutes	Goals	Minutes per goal
AC Milan	8	720	8	90m
APOEL	2	180	3	60m
Ajax	3	247	6	41m10s
Arsenal	6	447	9	49m40s
Atlético	4	360	-	-
Basel	2	120	2	60m
BATE	1	90	2	45m
Bayern	5	450	4	112m30s
Benfica	2	122	-	-
Bremen	2	49	1	49m
Celtic	6	488	8	61m
Chelsea	10	835	3	278m20s
Dynamo Kyiv	2	180	2	90m
Internazionale	3	270	-	-
Juventus	5	394	2	197m
København	2	180	3	60m
Leverkusen	3	270	7	38m34s
Liverpool	2	180	-	-
Lyon	4	358	3	119m20s
Manchester City	6	540	6	90m
Manchester United	4	332	2	166m
Mönchengladbach	1	90	1	90m
Olympiacos	2	180	1	180m
Panathinaikos	4	293	4	73m25s
Paris	8	614	4	153m30s
Plzeň	2	180	3	60m
Porto	1	90	1	90m
Rangers	2	180	1	180m
Real Madrid	2	180	2	90m
Roma	4	360	2	180m
Rubin Kazan	4	237	-	-
Sevilla	2	210	2	105m
Shakhtar	5	420	3	140m
Spartak Moskva	2	180	4	45m
Sporting CP	4	266	1	266m
Stuttgart	3	270	3	90m
Udinese	1	70	-	-

• Of the big five European footballing nations, German opponents seem to suit Messi best: he scores on average every 70 minutes and 34 seconds against Bundesliga clubs. Goals are much rarer against sides from England (every 116m42s), Italy (151m10s), France (138m51s) and Spain (187m30s).

• Messi may relish Portuguese rearguards least of all; in 478 minutes against Liga teams, he has scored just twice – a goal every 239 minutes.(Uefa.com)

The above stats speak volume of the brilliance of the mercurial number 10 whose 68 goals for Argentina has earned him four silver medals, including the Olympic Gold Medal and U-20 World Cup success. However, success continues to elude him in international football.

He is Barcelona record goal scorer with more than 586 goals and Argentina top scorer of all time with 68 goals.

And with a joint-highest Ballon d'OR award(5) tied with Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi has won quite a dozens of individual awards and recognition, and probably need no other award to establish himself as perhaps one of the greatest ever of all time.

But there is no doubt that Messi is the best of his generation.