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Lionel Messi has been making and breaking records each season since he announced himself to the world more than a decade ago. For starters, Messi has recorded the most goals for club and country in a calendar year – a feat which has put him in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He is also the top goalscorer in all club competitions in a single calendar year and even the top goal scorer in a club season. He has the most European Golden shoes, the most Balon d’Or (a record he shares with the phenomenal Cristiano Ronaldo), Top goal scorer in La Liga, the list is pure magic, and it is endless. The Argentinian is, after all, the Best footballer in the world right now.
However, it is in the pedigree of the best that makes mandatory improvement not just a necessity, but a way of life. And so, after winning the La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season, scoring 45 goals and registering 18 assists in total, Messi was not the one to rest on his laurels.
After a disappointing 2018 FIFA World Cup in the summer, Messi has returned to the new season, with renewed hunger and determination, as the new Barcelona Skipper and has already set the records ringing! After the Tuesday night opener of the UEFA Champions League, Messi has reached 4 new milestones in just over a month of the new season and looks set to have another cracker of a year ahead.
Every achievement of Leo is worth rejoicing, worth celebrating, because of the pure joy it imparts on the world, and today we look at the 4 records he has set so far this season.
#4 First player to score against 37 of the 40 opponents faced in La Liga
When Lionel Messi took to the field against Huesca on 2nd of September, they were the 40th team Messi had faced in the La Liga. Huesca were the newcomers in the league, however, they stunned the world when Hernandez gave them a shock lead as early as the 3rd minute.
However, it set the stage for the maestro to have his moment and the moment arrived in the 16th minute. Messi received the ball from Rakitic and with a shrug of the shoulder, sent his marker to the floor, ran into the penalty area and scored with this right foot.
The scored was 1-1 and Messi had netted against 37 of the 40 teams he faced in the La Liga in his career. It was the most by any player in the history of the league, a feat deservedly achieved by a man who has been breaking and setting records all his life.
The game ended 8-2 in Barcelona’s favour, with Messi finishing the game with 2 goals, 2 assists and yet another moment of history under his belt.
#3 Most goals in UEFA Champions League Group Stages
Messi first scored in the Champions League group stages in the 2005/06 season, netting in the 5-0 win over Panathinaikos. Since then, the Argentinian has scored in the group stages of each season without fail. Until the game against PSV on Tuesday night, Messi had scored a total of 60 goals in the group stages of the Champions League.
It was the most goals scored in the group stages, a record he shared with Cristiano Ronaldo. But Messi had chosen the inaugural match of the 2018/19 Champions League to come out on his own.
When he scored that heavenly free kick in the 31st minutes against PSV, Messi went ahead of Ronaldo once again. But he was not done just yet. In the 77th minute, Messi scored another beauty, his 62nd goal in the group stages and by the 87th minute, the Argentinian had scored his 63rd goal of the group stages, becoming the player with the most goals in the UEFA Champions League group stages.
With a fiery start to the new Champions League season, Messi will be looking forward to adding a few more to the tally by the end of the group stages.
#2 Most Hattricks in UEFA Champions League
It was April 2010 when Barcelona welcomed Arsenal at Nou Camp, in the second leg of the Quarter Final of the Champions League. Bendtner gave Arsenal the lead in the 18th minute, which put the tie 3-2 in the favour of the Gunners and that was when the UEFA Champions League lay witness to a piece of history.
Lionel Messi scored in the 21st minute to level the match and then netted again in the 37th minute to give Barcelona the lead. By the 42nd minute, the little maestro had completed his first UEFA Champions League hattrick and ended the match with 4 goals, scoring his 4th in the 88th minute.
By 2012, Messi had already scored 3 hattricks in the Champions League and by 2014, Messi had 5 UCL hattricks. The Argentinian could not add to his hattrick tally in 2015/16 season, but by the 2016/17 season, Messi had reached 7 hattricks, his 6th coming against Celtic and 7th against Manchester City.
The Argentinian had the highest hattricks in the UEFA Champions League until Ronaldo caught up to him last season, but on Tuesday night, Messi moved further higher up the steps, to a level above. With his 3 goal haul against PSV, the Barcelona Skipper now has the most Champions League Hattrick in the history of the tournament, yet again.
#1 First Player to reach 150 Assists in La Liga
At the start of the second half in the game vs Huesca in La Liga on 2nd of September, Barcelona were comfortably leading 4-2. Messi had already scored a goal and looked to be in fine form. In the 52nd minute, Messi exchanged a couple of passes with Coutinho just outside the penalty area and looked like he was setting his sights on goal.
The Huesca defense thought so too and maybe the whole world joined in anticipation. But the Argentinian is an artist who takes as much pleasure in scoring as he does in setting others up and hence, saw what few others did in the pitch – Rakitic making a late run into the box.
With a touch of his magical boots, Messi had churned up a perfect pass for Rakitic to score and in doing so, had become a part of history. He had reached 150 assists in the La Liga, the first player to do so since the records had been maintained from the 90s.
Lionel Messi had been leading the assist charts in the La Liga for years now and has assisted 32 different Barcelona players to score, in his career! The player who has been showered the most with his generosity has been his good friend Luis Suarez, who has been set up 23 times. Pedro is the next player on the list, who was assisted 14 times by Messi and the prolific Samuel Eto’o was set up 13 times!
Messi also has the record of reaching double figures in assists provided in 10 of the last 12 seasons. His highest assists for a season has been 21 in the 2010/11 season. Last season, he set up 12 goals in the La Liga.
By the end of Huesca game, Messi had set up Jordi Alba to score Barcelona’s 7th goal. Messi ended the game with 2 assists, along with 2 goals, and now has 151 assists to his name in the La Liga. The next two players on the list, both from Barcelona, no longer play in the La Liga – Dani Alves has 101 assists and Xavi Hernandez has 91.
The next current player in the list is Joaquin, who has 74 assists so far. The stats have spoken; Lionel Messi is not just La Liga's top goal scorer, he is also the La Liga assist King and after setting new records, still the G.O.A.T.
