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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.
#6 First player to score 35 La Liga hat-tricks
Days after winning a record sixth Ballon d'Or award, Lionel Messi scored his second La Liga hat-trick of the season in Barcelona's 5-2 home win over Mallorca on 8th December 2019.
In the process, the then 32-year-old broke a record he shared with Cristiano Ronaldo to become the first player to score 35 hat-tricks in the Spanish top-flight.
#7 First player to score 20 goals in 12 consecutive La Liga seasons
Mallorca had the misfortune of suffering more misery against Lionel Messi during the 2019-20 season. In the first game of the Liga restart after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Argentinian scored in the third minute of injury time to complete a resounding 4-0 La Liga win for Barcelona on 14th June 2020.
In the process, Messi racked up his 20th goal of the season to become the first player in La Liga history to score at least 20 goals in 12 consecutive seasons.
Messi eventually ended the campaign with 25 goals. During this period, the fewest he has scored in a Liga season was the 23 he managed in 2008-09.
#8 Becomes second player in a top 5 league to score 20 goals and provide 20 assists in a season
In a La Liga game against Real Valladolid on 12th July 2020, Lionel Messi provided the assist to Arturo Vidal who scored the only goal of the game in Barcelona's 1-0 win away from home.
In the process, the Argentina international emulated Frenchman Thierry Henry as the only players in a top five league to score 20 goals and provide as many assists in a season.
Messi's 20th assist of the season helped him draw level with former teammate Xavi Hernandez's record.
#9 First player to provide 21 assists in a La Liga season
In Barcelona's last league game of the 2019-20 season on 19th July 2020 against Alaves, Lionel Messi provided an assist to Ansu Fati who opened the scoring in the visitors' 5-0 win.
In the process, Messi broke Xavi Hernandez's record to become the first player to provide 21 assists in a La Liga season.
#10 Lionel Messi becomes the first player to win 7 Pichichi awards
In the same game where he notched up his record 21st La Liga assist of the season, Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's second and fifth goals as the deposed champions ended the season on a winning note by beating Alaves 5-0 away from home.
It meant that Messi (25) ended four goals clear of Real Madrid's Karim Benzema to become the first player in history to win seven Pichichi awards (awarded to the highest goal-scorer in a La Liga season).
The 33-year-old had previously shared the record with Telmo Zarra.
