The reason Messi deserves to be called ‘The best player of all time’ is because of a series of unprecedented records that will not be easily broken in the future.
Lionel Messi has more than 20 years of playing at the top level, winning countless individual and collective titles both for his club and the Argentina national team.
The series of records below that the 36-year-old superstar is holding, in the future it will be difficult for any player to break.
Record number of Golden Ball wins
Messi currently holds eight Ballons d’Or – more than any other player. The 36-year-old superstar won the Ballon d’Or titles in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
In history, only 10 players have won more than one Ballon d’Or and apart from Messi, only Cristiano Ronaldo has won three or more of these awards.
Specifically, the Portuguese superstar was honored with the Golden Ball 5 times in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Messi won the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
Record of 91 goals in a calendar year
Messi scored 91 goals for Barca and the Argentina national team in 2012.
This achievement helped him break the 40-year-old record of 85 goals held by German legend Gerd Muller.
Behind Messi’s record are Robert Lewandowski in 2021 and Ronaldo in 2013 – both scored 69 goals.
In 2023, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe have 44 and 40 goals respectively – 47 and 51 goals behind Messi’s record.
Record of 82 goals in one season
Scoring goals and trophies have become commonplace for Messi.
Messi set two records for total goals for both Barcelona and Argentina in the 2011-2012 season with 82 goals (73 goals at the club).
Meanwhile, the closest pursuers are German football legend Gerd Muller who scored a total of 67 goals in the 1972-1973 season and Pele who scored 66 goals in the 1957-1958 season.
Messi’s contemporary rival Ronaldo also scored 61 goals for Real Madrid and 5 goals for Portugal in the 2014-2015 season (66 goals in total).
Record of scoring 50 goals in a tournament
Superstar Lionel Messi scored 50 goals for Barcelona in the 2011-2012 season.
Messi’s closest rival to this record is his rival Ronaldo with 48 goals in the 2014-2015 season.
Record 19 consecutive ‘scoring’ matches
Again, the significance of the record is measured by comparing its holder with the second and third, Ronaldo Nazario and Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored in 10 consecutive games.
Messi scored in 19 consecutive matches in the 2012-2013 season and was interrupted until he unfortunately got injured.
In fact, when he recovered, Messi scored again in the next two matches, increasing his record of scoring in 21 consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Messi’s pursuers for this record are legends Ronaldo Nazario and Cristiano Ronaldo – both scoring 10 consecutive matches.
Record 474 goals in La Liga
In total, the Argentine superstar scored 474 goals for Barcelona in La Liga.
The Inter Miami striker’s record is 163 goals more than his nearest pursuer Ronaldo and 222 goals more than the legendary Telmo Zarra.
Compared to other major tournaments, the top scorers in the history of that tournament are also far behind Messi.
Alan Shearer has 260 goals in the Premier League, Silvio Piola with 274 goals in Serie A, Gerd Muller with 365 goals in the Bundesliga and Delio Onnis with 299 goals in Ligue 1.
Messi is also unlikely to break other records such as 6 times winning the European Golden Shoe, 106 matches for the Argentina national team, 26 matches at the World Cup, and 2 times winning the World Cup Golden Ball.
Messi also holds other solid records in La Liga such as most wins with 383 matches, scoring one or more goals in most matches (300), matches with at least two goals (133), matches with at least three goals (36), collective titles (44) and most goals for a club with 672 goals for Barcelona.
