5 Stats from this season which prove that Lionel Messi is the GOAT

#1 Goals

In the end of the day, footballers are mostly judged by the number of goals they score and this is where Lionel Messi has been devastatingly good for over a decade now. The Argentine has scored 40 goals or more for Barcelona, for 11 consecutive seasons now, a proof of how good he can be in front of goal. Messi has scored more than 25 league goals for 11 consecutive seasons as well and this time too, the Barcelona skipper has been brilliant in front of goal.

Lionel Messi has scored 16 goals from 16 games in the League so far, the most in the top five leagues in Europe. The three players next in the list - Ronaldo, Kane and Aubameyang - have all scored 14 goals, however, they have played at least 3 more games!

The Argentinean has found the back of the net 22 times from 21 games in total this season. He has had 2 hattricks, and has also scored a brace in a game 5 times this season! He is averaging 5.3 shots per game in the Champions League - where he has scored 6 goals from 4 games - and 4.9 shots per game in La Liga.

Lionel Messi's brilliant goalscoring form this season reinstates his stance as the best footballer in the World right now and provides the most convincing proof that the Argentinean is the GOAT.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Kingshuk Kusari