Stats: Lionel Messi breaks Pele's record for most goals in six consecutive seasons

Lionel Messi (L) is still behind Pele’s all-time goal scoring mark but has already broken a few records himself

When Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano 6-1 in La Liga on Sunday, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick. It was Messi’s 24th hat-trick in La Liga and had reached the 30-goal mark for the season with three more months to go.

While it is a far cry from his glorious form in 2011/12 which saw him score 73 goals in a season (91 goals in 2012), he is well on his way to probably crossing the 50 goals mark. Maybe even 60 goals isn’t too far fetched considering his form in 2015 (18 goals in 16 games this calendar year).

When he scored his second goal, he overtook Pele’s record of 313 goals in six consecutive seasons at Santos. Messi is currently on 315 goals with a minimum of 14 more games to play (12 in La Liga, one Champions League round of 16 match and the Copa del Rey final). If Barcelona reach the Champions League final, that will be another five more games added to the list of fixtures, giving him more games to set another benchmark.

COMPARING PELE AND MESSI IN SIX CONSECUTIVE SEASONS

SEASON	PELE GOALS	SEASON	MESSI GOALS
1958	66	2009/10	47
1959	53	2010/11	53
1960	33	2011/12	73
1961	62	2012/13	60
1962	48	2013/14	41
1963	51	2014/15	41*
TOTAL	313	TOTAL	315*

*Goals scored as of 8 March 2015