Incredible Stats Show the Gulf Between Lionel Messi and Every Other La Liga Player

Barcelona are good. Lionel Messi is good. Barca are just a few steps away from proving just how good they are to the world by becoming the first team to go unbeaten for a full season of La Liga, while Messi...well. 

Helpfully, Opta have rounded up a handful of his stats from the league this season which illustrate his case - as if it needed to be made - very nicely indeed. 

That's right - the Argentine leads La Liga in goals, assists, long-range goals, chances created, dribbles, and...just about everything else. 

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner scored a hat-trick against Deportivo La Coruña on the weekend as Barca wrapped up their 25th La Liga title, taking him beyond Mohamed Salah in the European Golden Shoe rankings with 32 league goals. 

A successful Copa del Rey campaign and below-par Champions League showing have helped Messi to 43 goals and 18 assists in all competitions. 

The really wild thing? Messi has hit the post 12 times this season in La Liga alone. Less a case of margins between good and great, more of a small margin between great and...actually still pretty great. 

Just four games separate Barcelona from a full unbeaten season in La Liga, and Messi will be central to his side's efforts of making history - with Sunday evening's Clasico at the Bernabeu the biggest test between now and the end of the campaign.