Lionel Messi is the undisputed record holder at Barcelona, of that there is no doubt. He has an astounding number of individual records he holds for the Catalan giants, comfortably more than any other player in their illustrious history.
A trailer of the records he holds for Barcelona - he has scored the most goals in a calendar year for a player (96 goals in 2012, for Barça 84 goals and 12 for Argentina), he has the longest scoring run in La Liga (33 goals in 21 consecutive games in 2012/13), highest scorer in the Champions League (77 goals in 99 games), and of course the highest scorer in La Liga history (335 goals in 371 games).
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But, there are still those records which has eluded the little magician, and although difficult, he can achieve them before he decides to hang up those famous boots (if he stays at Barcelona).
#1 Most appearances for Barcelona in La Liga
Current player who holds the record: Xavi Hernández (505 games)
It is quite staggering to see that Lionel Messi, despite having just 371 appearances is the all-time top scorer in La Liga. Still only 29-years-old, taking into consideration that he started playing at the age of 17, we can guarantee that he will be playing for at the least five more seasons after this.
So, given there are 38 games a League season, he is more than likely to play around 30 games. Unless of course, he picks up devastating injury, something he has avoided for his entire career. In five seasons, he will more than likely walk to that record of 505 games held by Xavi.
#2 Players with most consecutive wins in La Liga
Current player who holds the record: Sergio Busquets with 25 wins
Many might argue that this is a fortuitous record to have, but according to me, this shows the importance of a player to the team. It is quite the record to have under your name too, especially given 25 games amounts to around 65% of a whole season.
Lionel Messi, and given the things he is capable of, he might still be capable of doing the same. Sergio Busquets achieved it with ‘that’ Barcelona team between the 2010 season and 2011 season under Pep Guardiola.
With La Liga becoming a much more difficult competition the last 4 seasons or so, it might be difficult. But with a new manager, and the combination of Leo Messi, Neymar and Suarez as your front three, he still has more than a slight chance of getting the record.
#3 Fastest hat-trick in Barcelona history
Current player who holds the record: Pedro Rodriguez (in 9 minutes)
On December 23rd 2013, Barcelona were down 2-0 Getafe in the La Liga. In came, La Masia graduate and current Chelsea man Pedro and the Spanish international went nuts, scoring three goals in just over eight minutes.
Leo Messi has scored 35 hat-tricks during his career at Barcelona, but Pedro’s hat-trick time is something he will have half an eye on. In the last couple of seasons, Saido Mane has scored a hattrick in 12 minutes, Robert Lewandowski scored 5 goals in 9 minutes and more recently Andrea Belotti who scored his hat-trick in eight minutes.
Given, he is Leo Messi, is it only a matter of time?
#4 Most goals in a La Liga game
Current player who holds the record: Ladislao Kubala (7 goals)
Ladislao Kubala, did the unthinkable around 65 years back when he scored seven goals in the match between FC Barcelona and Sporting Gijón (9-0) on February 10, 1952. Lionel Messi almost did something similar in the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen when he scored five goals.
Messi has already scored 4 goals in a game on four separate occasions, and though seven goals seem staggering in this day and age, on his day, you can’t put it beyond the Argentine. Given that those four and five-goal hauls were against the likes of Arsenal, Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen, a bottom of the table side might be at the wrong side of drubbing soon.
#5 Oldest player to play for Barcelona
Current player who holds the record: José Manuel Pinto 38 years 06 months 09 days
Given the amount of laurels he achieved during his time with Barcelona and Argentina, it is easy to forget that Lionel Messi is still 29-years-old. He has already been in the game for the best part of 12 years where he has been mercurially brilliant.
Not so surprisingly though is a goalkeeper who holds the record for being the oldest player to appear for Barcelona. But, if Messi decides to finish his career at Barcelona he might well play beyond that.
He has already shown signs of changing his game, his passing range has improved, and he has started playing in a deeper role. When he is no more able to dribble past players at will, he might pick up the role of a number ten, making clever passes to strikers, a la Ryan Giggs if you may.
