Last night, the incomparable Lionel Messi passed the 200 goal milestone for Barcelona even though he hasn’t yet played 300 games for the club. Here are five of his best.
Another game, another hat-trick for Lionel Messi, who scored his 200th, 201st and 202nd goals for Barcelona against Viktoria Plzen to reach yet another milestone in his incredible career and confirm his status as the greatest player on the planet and arguably the greatest the game has ever seen
The impish Argentinian is chasing the all-time Barcelona goalscoring record currently held by Cesar Rodriguez, who scored 235 goals for the Catalans between 1942 and 1955. By comparison, Messi has already scored 202 goals in 286 appearances, but the frightening thing is, at 24, there’s plenty more of where that came from.
If you think that’s impressive, try these stats on for size. Messi has already scored 22 goals this season (we’re only just in November, remember), he scored 53 in the last campaign and in Europe, he’s netted a whopping 42 goals in 61 appearances.
With only 36 goals to beat Rodriguez’s record, Messi will more than likely lay claim to the record by the end of the season. Considering he has no desire to leave Barcelona, by the time he’s finished, it’s probable that no one will ever catch him again.
Messi rarely scores a bad goal, but some are that extra bit special than the rest. Here are five of the best.
Getafe 2007
Tentative comparisons between Maradona and Messi had been made prior to Messi’s wonder goal against Getafe in the Copa del Rey semi-final, but this effort, a near exact replica of Maradona’s goal against England in the 1986 World Cup confirmed the uncanny resemblance in style, grace and balance between the country’s greatest ever footballers.
Zaragoza 2010
It’s not just his touch, his skill and his finishing that make Messi great, he’s a strong little bugger too and can be a spiky enough character when necessary. Observe him completely outmuscling a Zaragoza player in the centre of the park, before bamboozling the opposition defence and slotting it into the corner.
Stuttgart 2010
We’re used to his balletic grace and magnet-like feet, but how about this for sheer power. There may have been four players in his vicinity, but it didn’t stop Messi unleashing a thunderbolt into the top corner. In fairness to the Stuttgart lads, they were probably afraid to stick out a leg for fear that Messi would just embarrass them as he has done, and still does, to countless others.
Arsenal 2011
To appreciate the sheer genius of this goal requires that you take a second look at his touch over the onrushing Manuel Almunia. At first it looks lucky, but slow it down and you’ll see that the little lob over the hapless ‘keeper was no fluke. The volley to the net afterwards? Mere child’s play.
Real Madrid 2011
As a stand-alone effort, Messi’s goal against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final last season is up there with the best of them, but the context of it makes even better. At the end of one of the ugliest and hate-driven games ever seen, Messi danced through Mourinho’s boys on their home turf to all but settle a massive grudge match before the second leg. And boy, did he enjoy it.
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