Mr. Record Breaker: Lionel Messi

Expected to win his 4th Ballon d’Or award next month, Lionel Messi completed his record year 2012 with 91 goals. The last goal of 2012 was a low and left-footed shot into the right corner of the goal post in the 59th minute of the game vs. Valladoid on Saturday night.

Messi shattered Gerd Muller’s 40 years old record of 85 goals in a calender year (1972), scoring 79 for Barcelona and 12 for Argentina his year. He also assisted 22 goals in 2012.

Scroll below to see all the 91 goals:

Breakdown of Leo’s 91 goals in 2012:

• 59 in the Spanish league, 13 in the Champions League, 5 in the Copa del Rey and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup. He had 12 for Argentina: 5 in World Cup qualifiers and 7 in exhibition games.
• Messi’s goals per calendar year (for club & country): 2007 = 31. 2008 = 22. 2009 = 41. 2010 = 60. 2011 = 59. 2012 = 91.
• Messi’s 91 goals in 2012: January = 7. February = 10. March = 13. April = 9. May = 8. June = 4. July = 0. August = 7. September = 5. October = 10. November = 9. December = 9.

A look at Messi’s Stats in 2012:

• Messi scored 0 goals x 22 times, 1 goal x 16 times, 2 goals x 22 times, 3 goals x 9 times, 4 goals twice and 5 goals once in 2012.
• 80 goals were scored with his left foot, 8 with his right foot and 3 with his head.
• Along with the record of scoring the most goals in a calender year Messi became only the 2nd player in the history of football to score 25 international goals in a calendar year sharing the record with V.Woodward (1909)
• Messi is the only player in the history of the Champions League to score 15 braces. Raúl is at the second place with 14 braces.
• Messi became the only player in the history of the Champions League to score 25+ away goals after breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 24 away goals in CL.
• Messi became the only player in the history of Barcelona to score 195 league goals. Before this, the record was held by another Barcelona Legend César Rodríguez Alvarez for 190 goals.
• Also, Messi with 79 goals for Barcelona broke G.Muller’s record of 72 goals for Bayern Munich in a single calender year.

Messi already won 3 Ballon d’Ors and has also played an important role in the success of his club team leading Barcelona to 5 La Liga titles and 3 UEFA Champions League trophies. And he is just 25, and it’s certainly clear that Messi will be remembered as the greatest ever!