Lionel Messi beats Cristiano Ronaldo for the record of most freekick goals

Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are breaking records left and right this summer. On Monday, Messi overtook Ronaldo as the player with the most number of freekick goals with his strike against Chile in Argentina's opening game in the controversial Copa America.

Messi has now scored a total of 57 times from freekicks throughout his professional career. For his part, the Portuguese captain has scored 56. Needless to say, this record may still change hands in the next couple of weeks. The battle is tight, but both players will likely be working hard to score for their countries, regardless if it is via a freekick or not.

Messi has scored the majority of his freekick goals on the club level for FC Barcelona. The rest have been with Argentina, with whom he is still chasing a major trophy. The Copa America did not start off as well as Argentina would have hoped, but they will have their chances to get better results in the coming days. Messi will be extra motivated to perform well, as this may be one of his last few chances to take his national team to glory.

Over the years, he has been dubbed as "pecho frio (cold chest)," or loosely translated in context as a person who does not show passion when it comes to big matches for Argentina. He will be eager to get out of this image this summer, and it would not hurt to break a few more records along the way.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo may still get in his way. The Portuguese star scored 32 freekick goals for Real Madrid, 13 for Manchester United, 10 for Portugal and one for current club Juventus. Apart from that, he has just taken the record as the all-time top scorer in the European Championship's history.

Ronaldo also needs just three more goals to equal Iranian player Ali Daei's long-standing record of 109 international goals. He now has 106 goals to his name, and will have a good chance of taking the lead this tournament.

Either way, it's a glorious time to be a football fan and to witness these two living legends in action as they break down numerous records.