Find me a man who won’t lavish the praise on Lionel Messi and I’ve found you a liar. The Barcelona star has effectively made it his one man mission to hunt down every record book in existence and give it an almighty whack into the stratosphere.
The diminutive Argentine is now within four goals of breaking Gerd Muller’s record of the most goals in a calendar year having netted his 81st and 82nd of 2012 during Sunday’s 4-0 win over Levante. On top of that, he still has seven games to secure the feat prior to the La Liga winter break and with Messi averaging around two goals a game, it won’t be long before the 86th goal is in the bag.
At 25-years-old, the Argentina international is already Barcelona’s all time leading goalscorer, having scored an astonishing 279 goals in the Blaugrana shirt since making his debut for the Spanish giants back in the 2004/05 season.
Understandably, footballing legend Diego Maradona described Messi as his “successor”, with the striker bearing striking similarities to the Argentinean hero, both physically and in footballing terms.
There are those that will pick up on the fact he is yet to win a World Cup winners medal, and with it won’t be considered one of football’s finest servants, regardless of his club exploits.
Nevertheless, this is a player that continues to mesmerise fans, both in Spain and abroad. There are those that consider Maradona and Pele to be the game’s best players. However, it won’t be long before Messi trumps both to the title.