Years down the line, one can safely say there were two eras in football. One before Lionel Messi took to the pitch and the one after he shattered records at will. Before the Argentine magician came on as a substitute in his first ever senior game for Barcelona, various records in Spain and Europe were held by different players.
Not anymore.
Together with Cristiano Ronaldo, both he and Messi have ushered in a new era where they elevated themselves to breath-taking heights in the record books – heights that may never be scaled for a long time to come. In fact, Messi has a few records to his name that won’t be broken anytime soon.
And he is not done yet. The 2015/16 season saw him set a few records and reach a couple of milestones. But a few more are up for grabs. Here are five of them.
1 ) Most La Liga goals at home
The Camp Nou is Messi’s stage and has been for over a decade since his debut. Barcelona play to massive crowds with an average attendance of over 72,000 in the last season alone. Messi is the conductor and the fans are the orchestra who chant his name and go home claiming they watched someone who was not human; a god among mortals.
Messi went past the legendary Telmo Zarra’s record of 251 La Liga goals last season itself. Even Ronaldo has surpassed that mark this season with a slightly better goals-per-game ratio.
But there is one record Zarra still clings on to and it hangs by a thread. The Spanish forward spent 15 seasons at Athletic Bilbao and scored 176 goals at home – the old San Mames Stadium.
Messi has scored 174 goals at the Camp Nou so far in the league. He needs just three more goals at the Camp Nou this season to make the record his own.
2) Most La Liga home games scored in
Before the arrival of Messi and Ronaldo, La Liga was ruled by one man. Real Madrid’s inspirational striker Raul Gonzalez Blanco (or just Raul). 16 seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu endeared him to the fans and many a tear was shed when he bid the club farewell.
When he left the club, he was the club’s highest goalscorer. Ronaldo has since taken his shirt number and the record but Raul still has the record of having scored in 111 home games.
Messi is not far behind. He has scored in 106 home games in La Liga. But Messi will not be able to break the record this season since Barcelona only have four more home games in La Liga this season.
The earliest he can break the record is in the second home game in the 2016/17 season.
3) Starting 100 Champions League games
Barcelona have a tough task in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after they were drawn with Atletico Madrid. It is arguably the biggest fixture of the round with the top two in La Liga going head-to-head.
Although Atletico knocked them out of the Champions League two seasons ago, Barcelona have had the upper hand in head-to-head matches since then. They managed to avoid Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals for the fifth consecutive season but will have their hands full with Diego Simeone’s side.
As Luis Enrique and co look to defend their Champions League crown – a feat that has not been achieved in the Champions League era – Messi could find the final a bit more special if they make it that far.
Messi has made 95 starts in the Champions League so far in 104 games. If Barcelona reach the final and Messi starts all five games, the final would be Messi’s 100th Champions League start!
4) 200 goals scored away from home
When you look at Messi’s goalscoring record, it clearly shows that he isn’t just a home-track bully. Of course, he has scored more at the Camp Nou, but the difference is not as much as some would have us believe.
Messi is now just 4 goals away from notching up 200 away goals. It’s almost incredible that he will score 200 goals away from home at the age of 28. One can say that 99% of professional players don’t even score that many goals in their entire career – home and away combined!
A remarkable and truly astonishing achievement! How many will he score when he eventually hangs up his boots?
5) Playing the full 90 minutes in 400 games
There is no question that Messi has been one of the fittest players in the world between 2008 and 2012. Apart from the knee injury earlier this season, there was only one season when Messi at 100% was truly missed, especially in the Champions League (2012/13) where he changed his personal physiotherapist.
His ability to bounce back and return to his phenomenal goalscoring ways is why he has set so many records. But another reason why he has scored so many is that he is hardly ever substituted.
Most managers take off their star attackers when the job is done and the result is a foregone conclusion. Not Messi, though. He stays on and wreaks havoc, never letting the defenders rest a single minute lest they be caught napping.
Currently, Messi has played the full 90 minutes in 393 games. He needs to complete 90 minutes in 7 games to reach the 400 mark – a mark he can easily reach this season.
