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The new year is upon us and brings with it the January transfer window and many engrossing matches to look forward to for all football fans. The competition in the world's top leagues is heating up, and the best players have already hit their stride.The race for the title in all major leagues, except Germany, is getting exciting. Champions league draws have been made. There is the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup to look forward to in this month and the Copa America in the summer break.With all this footballing action to look forward to, there are sure to be a lot of records that are going to be broken along the way. Here's a look at some of the biggest records we can expect to be broken in the coming year:
#1 England\'s all time top goalscorer
Contentious claims have been made in recent times about Rooneys decline. These claims allude to the rhetoric about Rooney not being world class anymore, although what that means is not clear.A casual look at the statisticswill tell one that Rooney has still got it, and is as influential as ever.
Rooney has been playedin a variety of positions, for bothclub and country, to make room for the arrival of the next generation superstars, but apart from the odd dip in form, he has shown no signs of stopping. He has continued his excellence in front of goal and has displayeda marked change in his demeanour on the pitch following his sending-off against West Ham. He has been moreresponsible and hasno doubt learned from his mistakes.
For his continued excellence, he now stands on the verge of breaking a record, which will forever place him in the pantheonof greats. He is currently three goals shy of Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals for England, which would make him the all-time leading goal-scorer for his country.
Rooney currently has 46 goals to his name in 101 matches. The only players with more are, Gary Lineker with 48 and Bobby Charlton with 49.
#2 Record points total in Bundesliga
Pep Guardiola stands on the cusp of another record. By now he's probably so used to this feeling that it doesn't make much of a difference to him, but it is going to make a difference in the record books and so it is worth pondering over.
Guardiola's Bayern have done exactly what was expected of them when he took charge, and that is dominate the other teams. In German football right now, football is a game played by two teams for 90 minutes, following which Bayern Munich win. There's no other way around it. They pass as many times as they like, they attack when they want, and defend when they want, but the end result is always the same. It is a rigmarole of eternal football dominance.
As such, their dominance has ensured that they sit atop the Bundesliga table at the half way mark. They have accrued 45 points from 17 games so far, that is 45 out of a possible 51. This puts them on course for 90 points by the end of season. With no real competition in the league apart from themselves, they could easily be expected to surpass the aforementioned 90 points.
The current record stands at 91 points which was, again, set by Bayern in the 2012-2013 season. A slight improvement on their current performance, thus far, should enable them to break the record.
#3 Most team goals in a La Liga season
La Liga has a habit of throwing up teams that can score a preposterous amount of goals in a 38 game season. The highest number of goals scored by a team in a season stands at 121, which was set by Real Madrid in 2011-2012. In comparison, the highest number of goals in a Premier League is 103, and 118 in both the Serie A and Ligue 1.
The records set in Serie A and Ligue 1 came prior to 2000, and no team in the modern era have come close to Real's 121, the enormity of the record is such. But here we stand in 2015, and it looks like the record is going to be smashed to smithereens.
Real Madrid have scored 56 goals from 16 games, which puts them on course to score 133 for the season. This era of the Galacticos is a very dangerous combination of the world's most skillful players at their prime, and even factoring in a dip in form, it doesn't look like they can be stopped from beating their own record.
#4 Most individual goals in a Premier League season
You would have to go back quite sime years to get to a time when someone wasn't trying to break this record. After the initial period of awe when Shearer first set the record of 31 goals in a season, every striker to have graced the Premier League has tried to break it. Few have come close, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez even equaled it, but no one has been able to break it.
This season, again, there are candidates who seek to make this record their own, the most notable ones being Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero. These two are the leading goal-scorers in the Premier League right now, with 14 goals each. Costa has managed his 14 from 17 starts while Aguero has got his in 13.
They both have a decent record of goals per game and should come close to the record. Aguero, in particular, can break it, for he is now on course to score 33 goals with his goals/ game record. He averages more than a goal per game and injuries permitting, he should be able to make the record his own.
There are of course, other candidates like Alexis Sanchez and Charlie Austin, who could have experience a surge in their form over the second half of the season, but Costa and Aguero remain the likeliest, aided by the strength of their respective teams, to be potentially able to break the record.
#5 Most number of FA Cup wins
After the stigma of going nine years without a trophy, Arsenal finally got the monkey off their back last year with their FA Cup triumph over Hull City. The win also helped them equal Manchester United's tally of 11 FA Cup wins, which is the highest for any team so far.
Arsenal, now stand a chance to do one better. Likewise, Manchester United also have a chance to make the trophy their own again. Both teams recorded comfortable victories in their third round clash against Hull and Yeovil Town respectively, and they've been given easy chances to progress to the quarter-finals with similarly easy fixtures in the fourth round.
Arsenal will have to make a trip to Brighton, while Manchester United travel to Cambridge. It must be noted that Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, have always made the semi-finals barring one time (in 2006) while defending the FA Cup, so they will be relishing their chances of going all the way.
#6 Most individual goals in a La Liga season
Cristiano Ronaldo shares the record for the highest number of goals in a 38 game season in England. He now has the chance of attaining something similar in La Liga.
His fierce rival, Lionel Messi currently holds the record for the most goals in a single season, with 50 goals scored in the 2011-2012 season. The record was set thanks to a scintillating display which saw him demolish records at a frightening rate. A repeat of such dominance was touted as being highly unlikely, and yet here we are three years later, watching Ronaldo play at a similarly frightening level, if not better.
Ronaldo has been playing with the urgency of a man who has been told that he's about to die. So obsessed he has been with scoring goals that scorelines of Madrid's games have started to resemble tennis scores. He has managed an incredible 26 goals in only 15 games. If he maintains this rate of scoring, he'll have easily surpassed Messi's total of 50 and will have set the record at an untouchable 64 goals.
#7 Argentina\'s all time top goalscorer
A list of records wouldn't quite be the same without Messi, so here he is again to grace us with his brilliance. By now, he's probably bored of all the records he's broken, but has to bear with us for he stands on the cusp of breaking a few more.
He has already established himself as the greatest to have ever worn the Barcelona shirt, and he will be keen to do it in anArgentinian shirt as well. This is not to say he's not already among the greatest, but there are a few formalities he'll want to fulfill, just in case someone lays a claim to his greatness.
The next recordthat he would be setting his sights uponis that ofbecominghis countrys all-time topgoal-scorer. The record is currently held by Gabriel Batistuta with 56 goals. Messi has already bagged 45, and with plenty of international action coming up for him this summer in the form of the Copa America and friendlies, Batistuta better say goodbyeto his record.
#8 La Liga\'s all-time top assist provider
Lionel Messi is back on the list. He is so good that breaking records is nothing new for him. He is already the greatest goal-scorer La Liga has ever seen and now will also become the greatest goal-provider in a few games.
While his goal scoring exploits may draw plenty of attention, his ability to create is often overlooked, which is a travesty given the consistency with which he displays his creative side. Messi has 101 assists to his name so far and is only six shy of being the all-time top provider in the Spanish Primera division.
Knowing him and his ability, he'll probably have the record before the end of January.
