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Lionel Messi is arguably Barcelona's greatest ever player, and also one of the best players ever. As 2018 has now come to a close and 2019 is only just beginning, it seems appropriate to look at the records Messi has set or has broken over the course of 2018, and also some he has set already in 2019!
As implausible as it seems, along with his career rival Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi seems unable to play many football matches without closing in on, or breaking a record, and the 2018 calendar year as well as the 2019 calendar year have so far proved no different, with the now veteran footballer showing the world that he is still a force to be reckoned within the footballing world.
Although Lionel Messi always seems to insist that he cares more about winning team trophies over individual awards, it is doubtful that he doesn't enjoy picking up awards for his personal efforts on the football pitch, even if they serve as mere physical recognition for his mouth-watering exploits on the pitch.
#4 Winning his 5th Golden Boot
In the 2017/18 season Messi scored 34 league goals in 36 league games in yet another title winning season for Barcelona. Whilst this title success will no doubt be the most important factor of Messi's season during the 2017/18 campaign, he will no doubt be thrilled that his haul of 34 goals was the highest total across Europe's top 5 leagues, meaning that he won the Golden Boot.
It doesn't end there, however. By winning his fifth Golden Boot, the Argentine superstar has now gone one ahead of career rival Cristiano Ronaldo who sits on 4 golden boots currently. Although Messi seldom expresses his desire to win individual awards, it is unquestionable that he enjoys winning them, and it's not hard to imagine that his 5 golden boots awards are sat nicely next to his 5 Ballon d'Ors!
#3 Reaching 150 assists in La Liga
In September 2018, Messi became the first player in La Liga history (since the 1990s when assists were properly counted) to reach 150 assists. This is a remarkable record for him to have as it shows the world that he is a complete forward who is able to score and support his teammates.
Lionel Messi has only ever played in La Liga, and only for Barcelona for that matter, which has undoubtedly helped his case to setting this record with many of the other legendary players who have graced La liga having opted to only spend some of their careers in Spain, meaning they didn't necessarily play in La Liga for long enough. Nevertheless, it is a great record that Messi will be proud of, as it shows how well he has played in La Liga over the last 14 or so years.
#2 Most trophies won by a Barcelona player (33 trophies)
At the end of the 2017/18 season, Messi and Iniesta had both won their 32nd trophy with Barcelona, which was a joint record that the pair held. However, this would also mark the last trophy Iniesta would win with Barcelona, with the club legend opting to begin his transition into footballing retirement by leaving the Catalunyan club and flying all the way to Japan to play for Vissel Kobe.
Lionel Messi didn't share this record with Iniesta for long however, with the footballing great improving his tally to 33 trophies at Barcelona when he won the Spanish Super Cup at the very start of the season. This record shows Messi's dedication to Barcelona as his tally reflects the fact that he has spent his entire career thus far at the club, and with Barcelona looking heavy favorites to win the league again this year, this tally will keep going up.
#1 Scoring 400+ League goals (La Liga record)
Although Lionel Messi has been the all time top goalscorer in La Liga for a couple of years now, he has still managed to hit more goal scoring milestones in the Spanish top flight. In January 2019, Messi scored in a comfortable win against Eibar, and although the goal itself played little significance to the game itself, which was already heavily in favor of Barcelona, on a personal level it is significant as Messi became the first player in the history of La Liga to score 400 goals.
Whilst his goal-to-game ratio isn't quite as impressive as Cristiano Ronaldo, who managed to score more than a goal a game in his 9 year stint at Real Madrid, before departing to yet another club and another league. Messi's ratio of 0.91, however, is still a ridiculous stat and one that he'll no doubt be proud of.
