Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player to have graced the game of football. The diminutive Argentinian is one of the last vestiges of the true one-club era as he has played only for Barcelona during his entire professional career.
Since making his debut for the Blaugrana during the 2004-05 season, Lionel Messi has been the epitome of sustained excellence and longevity for the better part of a decade and a half and is still going strong.
Ten records created by Lionel Messi last season
Perhaps not surprisingly, the diminutive Argentinian has eked out a plethora of records during an illustrious career for club and country.
Argentina and Barcelona's all-time record goal-scorer has scored the most goals (444) and provided the most assists (201) by any player during the nine-decade history of the Spanish Primera Liga. Lionel Messi has also scored the most Champions League goals (115) for a single club.
On that note, let us have a look at ten records and milestones Lionel Messi achieved during the 2019-20 season.
#1 First player to score in 16 consecutive seasons in La Liga
Owing to a calf injury, Lionel Messi made a belated appearance in the 2019-20 La Liga season. with Barcelona expectedly struggling upfront in their talisman's absence.
In a La Liga game against Sevilla on 6th October 2019. Lionel Messi curled up a sumptous freekick to apply the coup de la grace in Barcelona's convincing 4-0 win against the Andalusian club. In the process, Messi became the first player in La Liga history to score in 16 consecutive seasons in the competition.
#2 First player to score in 15 consecutive seasons in the Champions League
After drawing a blank in his first two Champions League games of the season against Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan respectively, Lionel Messi opened the scoring at Slavia Prague in Barcelona's 2-1 victory on 24th October 2019.
In the process, the diminutive Argentinian became the first player to score in 15 consecutive Champions League seasons, while also equalling Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo's record of scoring against most number of different opponents (33) in the competititon.
#3 Scores 50th career freekick
During a La Liga game against Real Valladolid on 29th October 2019, Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's third of the match with a fabulous freekick which happened to be the 50th of his illustrious career.
However, Messi still has some way to go to catch up with all-time leader Juninho Pernambucano's record of 77.
#4 First player to score against 34 different teams in the Champions League
In Barcelona's fifth group-stage match of the 2019-20 Champions League against Borussia Dortmund on 27th November 2019, Lionel Messi doubled the Catalan club's lead in the 33rd minute.
That made the Barcelona captain the first player in Champions League history to score against 34 different teams in the competition, in the process breaking a record he previously shared with Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Incindentally, the game against Dortmund was Messi's 700th appearance for Barcelona.
#5 First player to win 6 Ballon d'Ors
On 3rd December 2019, Lionel Messi broke a tie with Cristiano Ronaldo to become the first player to win six Ballon d'Or awards.
The Barcelona and Argentina captain won the prestigious award for the first time in 2009 and followed up with three more in the next three years before winning his fifth in 2015.