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Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player to have ever graced the football field with a pair of cleats. An absolute wizard on the field, the Argentine's struck an incomparable relationship with the football and when he speaks to it, it listens.
Suffice to say Lionel Messi is the closest thing we've seen to magic. He has hit a rough patch this season, only by his own high standards of course, but he has still had a spectacular year all around and made it to the top three in the FIFA Best Men's Player Awards.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five records that Lionel Messi broke this year.
#5 First player in Spanish football history to register 500 wins
Lionel Messi has been the face of La Liga for a decade and a half now. He shared that honour with Cristiano Ronaldo for a major chunk of it but perhaps no player has made as much of an impact in the Spanish top-flight as Lionel Messi has.
This year, Lionel Messi became the first player in Spanish top-flight history to register 500 wins in his career. He did so when Barcelona beat Leganes back in January in the 2019-20 season.
That is how solid his habit of winning is. That's why Lionel Messi has won 10 La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and six Ballon d'Ors, just in case you were wondering.
#4 Lionel Messi has the record for scoring against the most number of sides in the Champions League
We are blessed to have seen Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi playing at the peak of their powers. Even better, their rivalry whilst Cristiano Ronaldo was playing for Real Madrid was a thing of epic proportions.
Ronaldo has since moved on and is now breaking records in the Serie A. But the two still lock horns in the Champions League. Now Lionel Messi has moved ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and broken the record for scoring against the most number of sides in the UEFA Champions League.
Leo Messi has scored against 36 different sides in the UEFA Champions League. He has also netted against sides from 16 different countries. Cristiano Ronaldo is close behind, and has scored against 33 different sides in the Champions League.
#3 First player to hit 1000 goals + assists combined
Even if Lionel Messi's goalscoring rate wanes, he will still have a big role to play for whatever side he will be plying his trade for. He is as good a creator as he is a goalscorer and his vision on a football field is seldom matched.
In February earlier this year, Lionel Messi became the first player in the history of the game to officially hit the 1000 mark for goals and assists combined. In the 2019-20 season, in 41 games across La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, Lionel Messi scored 28 goals and provided 24 assists.
Those are incredible rates for both goalscoring and playmaking and it just proves that Messi is in a different league of his own. He is perhaps the closest we have come to see a complete footballer.
#2 First player ever to score 20+ goals in 12 consecutive La Liga seasons
Lionel Messi is viewed as the greatest of all time because he has operated at an elite level ever since breaking into the first team setup at Barcelona. This year Lionel Messi became the first player to score more than 20 goals in 12 consecutive La Liga seasons.
Out of those 12 seasons, he has scored more than 30 goals in eight of them. That's the standard he maintains and the level he has had to keep up to make it to the GOAT debate.
Messi has seven goals from 13 appearances so far in La Liga. He has had to deal with a lot of internal issues at the club and if what we have seen in all of the last 12 years or so is anything to go by, he is certain to hit his stride and improve his own record.
#1 Lionel Messi now has the most goals for a single club
One-club players are a rarity in football. As such, it is quite special that Lionel Messi, one of the greatest footballers of all time, has only played for Barcelona. Now, with his goal last night against Real Valladolid, he has moved ahead of Pele as the player with the most goals for a single club.
Lionel Messi has now scored his 644th goal for Barcelona and took to Instagram to explain how he felt about breaking Pele's record. Messi said, via Instagram,
“When I started playing football, I didn’t expect to break a record like this, especially since it’s Pelé. I want to thank everyone who has helped me all of these years, my teammates, my family, my friends and everyone who has supported me.”
And to give you a sense of just how good a player has to be to break Messi's record:
