Kelechi Iheanacho: How close is Bursaspor striker to Messi’s goal record?

Super Eagles striker Kelechi Iheanacho has entered the most prolific campaign of his career, setting weekly records at Bursaspor and inviting comparisons to football great Lionel Messi.

The 30-year-old scored Bursaspor’s 4-2 win over Keçiörengücü, restoring the lead before going off in the 69th minute.

Kelechi Iheanacho scores his 16th goal of the season 👏

He has now scored in 13 consecutive matches for Club and country 🇳🇬🫶 pic.twitter.com/GYMmdiKnhN

— Leagues Reporter (@LeaguesReporter) October 25, 2026

The strike extended Iheanacho’s goalscoring run to 12 straight games. The former Leicester City striker has now scored 16 goals and provided three assists for Bursaspor.

For club and country, Seniorman has scored 17 goals and provided three assists in 13 games across all competitions this season.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s historic campaign with Bursaspor

The Bursaspor move has etched Iheanacho into the history books in Turkiye. He is the first player to score in 10 successive league games in Turkish football, surpassing the nine-game marks held by Metin Oktay (Galatasaray, 1962/63) and Saffet Sancaklı (Kocaelispor, 1995/96).

He had earlier overtaken Fernandão’s Bursaspor club record of eight, set in the 2014/15 season.

How close is Iheanacho to breaking Messi’s goal record?

Arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Lionel Messi holds the record for the longest goalscoring run in football.

The Argentine great reached the benchmark when he scored in 21 consecutive league games for Barcelona in the 2012/2013 season. In that run, Messi scored 33 goals.

To equal that record, Iheanacho needs to score in nine more games, and 10 more games to surpass the record.

Should he score a goal per game, he’ll fall short of the 33 goals Messi achieved, but will reach the 21-game scoring streak.

Still, Kelechi Iheanacho is closer to beating some greats if he continues to score. Josef Bican (Slavia Prague, 1939/40), Gerd Müller (Bayern Munich, 1969/70) and Teodor Peterek (Ruch Chorzów, 1937/38) each scored in 16 straight league games, while Robert Lewandowski managed 15 for Bayern in the 2020/21 season.

Four more games would put Iheanacho level with the three at 16.

Should Kelechi Iheanacho achieve the feat, it’ll be a brilliant reach for a man who already has five outstanding records in English Football.

Meanwhile, Bursaspor coach Mustafa Er wants the Nigerian forward to keep the scoring streak going as long as possible.

“It’s a very difficult record to break. Our wish is for him to extend this streak even further,” he said.

Iheanacho has kept his focus narrow, maintaining that his current form does not translate to a January move to a bigger club.

“I am not going to say anything about the future until we can talk about the future.”

What Iheanacho’s streak means for the Super Eagles

The timing helps Iheanacho’s case with Nigeria. His goal against Russia was his 16th for the Super Eagles.

He played 45 minutes that day. Eric Chelle has world-class strikers like Victor Osimhen and other options in attack, and a run in the second division will not decide who starts.

However, a striker who scores this often is hard to leave out, particularly when the chances he takes are the difference between wins and draws.

For now, the target is simple. Keep scoring, and see how far the run goes. Nine more games would put him alongside Lionel Messi.