13 of Lionel Messi’s most ridiculous stats after his 700th Barca appearance
Lionel Messi marked his 700th club appearance with a typically brilliant individual display in Barcelona‘s 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, setting up two goals and scoring one himself.
The Argentinian magician looks just as good as ever at the age of 32. He looks likely to be setting new records, hitting new milestones and generally blowing our minds for a few more years yet.
But we figured 700 games was as good an opportunity as any to break his incredible Barcelona career down into his best records and most unbelievable stats.
– He’s scored 613 goals in his first 700 appearances. For reference, Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 504 goals at the same stage.
He needs just 30 more goals to break Pele’s all-time one-club record of goals for Santos. The Brazilian scored 643 goals in 757 official matches.
That total broken down: La Liga (427), Champions League (114), Copa Del Rey (51), Spanish Super Cup (12), UEFA Super Cup (3), Club World Cup (5)
On This Day in 2012, Leo Messi scored 5 goals in 1 game.
Poor Bayer Leverkusen…#UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/YKcgC2F3Pg
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) March 7, 2019
– That total includes 40 hat-tricks, 125 braces, five four-goal hauls, and even a five-goal haul against Bayer Leverkusen in 2012.
– It’s over five years since Messi became La Liga’s all-time top scorer, overtaking Telmo Zarra’s 251 tally with a hat-trick against Sevilla in November 2014. He’s now scored 427 goals.
– Not only is Messi the top scorer in La Liga, he holds the record in Europe’s top five leagues. Gerd Muller was the previous record-holder with 365 Bundesliga goals, just ahead of Jimmy Greaves in England with 357. However, the very much still-active Ronaldo isn’t far behind on 421 goals.
– Messi holds the record for most club goals in any single-season campaign in Europe’s major leagues. He scored an incredible 73 goals for Barcelona during the 2011-12 season. But Glenavon FC’s Jimmy Jones scored 74 in Northern Ireland in the 1956-57 season.
– That 2011-12 campaign included 50 goals in the league – a La Liga record.
– He’s also got the most recorded assists in world football history – 237.
Ahem! Make that 237 assists! (But your adjectives are spot on, Gary!)😉 pic.twitter.com/NoLdx0Ro0v
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 27, 2019
– He’s scored at least 40 goals in every season since 2008-09. He’ll be looking to make it 10 in a row this year.
– He’s won 34 trophies with Barcelona: 10 La Liga titles, 6 Copa del Rey, 4 Champions Leagues, 8 Supercopa de España, 3 UEFA Super Cups, 3 Club World Cups. No one in the history of the club has won more.
– He’s won the European Golden Shoe six times (2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19).
– Messi has won the Ballon d’Or five times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015) and a record sixth in 2019 is rumoured to be imminent.
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