Comparing Mohamed Salah’s insane start to 2025 with Lionel Messi’s record-breaking year in 2012

Ben Stewart • 23 Feb 2025

Lionel Messi scored a record-breaking 91 goals throughout the calendar year of 2012 and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is currently keeping pace with that version of the Argentine genius.

The Egyptian king has been in the form of his life throughout 2024-25 and he’s not showing any signs of slowing down, having registered 13 goals and assists in his last eight appearances.

It was that sort of form that saw Messi score 91 goals and produce 22 assists in 2012 for Barcelona and Argentina.

Since Messi set that goalscoring record in 2012, the closest that anyone has come to matching it was Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013 and Robert Lewandowski in 2021 with both players scoring 69 goals.

Scoring 91 goals across a calendar year seems like an almost impossible task, but Salah is currently ahead of Messi’s tally in 2012 after the same number of matches.

Following Salah’s latest goal and assist against Manchester City, he’s now produced 14 goal contributions in his first 12 matches of 2025.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every South American to play for Liverpool in the Premier League?

In comparison, Messi produced 13 goal contributions in his first 12 matches of 2012 – scoring eight goals and notching five assists.

Of course, Salah being statistically ahead of Messi at this point in the year is certainly no guarantee that he’ll go on to score 91 goals this year, but it does highlight how good he’s been of late.

“Best player in the world? If you look at his numbers you can’t argue with it,” Arne Slot told reporters earlier in the season when discussing Salah.

The 32-year-old has already registered 51 goal contributions throughout 2024-25 and there’s still plenty of time for him to add to his tally yet.

“I don’t know. It is opinion,” Salah told Sky Sports after being asked if he’s currently playing better than ever.

“Maybe people prefer my first seasons or now but I prefer now because winning the league, helping the young players, it is special.

“We need another title. Me and the big guys in the team, we need another title.”

Salah’s goals have earned Liverpool an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League and the Reds are also considered as one of the favourites for the Champions League too.

While it seems unlikely that Salah will be able to maintain this sort of form for a full calendar year to match Messi’s output in 2012, he’s certainly one of the best players to watch in world football right now.

Here’s the full breakdown of how Salah’s start to 2025 compares to Messi’s start to 2012: