Lionel Messi Scores 30th Goal of the Season to Reach Landmark for 11th Successive Season
Lionel Messi scored the winner for Barcelona yet again on Saturday night, netting the only goal as La Blaugrana edged out Real Valladolid by the odd goal at Camp Nou.
The goal may not have been the most exhilarating of Messi's career - having come from the penalty spot, but it did bring up another landmark achievement in the Argentine superstar's legendary career.
For the 11th successive season, Messi has netted 30 goals or more in all competitions; with his statistics in front of goal really needing to be seen in order to be believed.
Messi is currently scoring at a goal per game ratio this season, with 22 of his strikes this season coming in just 22 La Liga games. As impressive as that may sound, the 31-year-old's statistics this season pale into insignificance when compared with some of his other seasonal accomplishments.
He scored an incredible 73 goals in 60 games during the 2011/12 season, with 50 of those coming in just 37 La Liga games. Overall, Barcelona's greatest ever player has 405 La Liga goals to his name in just 440 appearances - making him comfortably the greatest ever goalscorer in the club's illustrious history.
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Here, we breakdown Messi's goalscoring record over the past 11 years.
*(Current Season)
Season | La Liga Games (Goals) | Champions League Games (Goals) | Total Games (Goals) |
2008/09 | 31 (23) | 12 (9) | 51 (38) |
2009/10 | 35 (34) | 11 (8) | 53 (47) |
2010/11 | 33 (31) | 13 (12) | 55 (53) |
2011/12 | 37 (50) | 11 (14) | 60 (73) |
2012/13 | 32 (46) | 11 (8) | 50 (60) |
2013/14 | 31 (28) | 7 (8) | 46 (41) |
2014/15 | 38 (43) | 13 (10) | 57 (58) |
2015/16 | 33 (26) | 7 (6) | 49 (41) |
2016/17 | 34 (37) | 9 (11) | 52 (54) |
2017/18 | 36 (34) | 10 (6) | 54 (45) |
2018/19 | 22 (22)* | 4 (6)* | 30 (30)* |
Total | 440 (405) | 129 (106) | 667 (582) |
Whack on top of those impressive individual statistics the fact that Messi has won 32 trophies during his time with the Catalan giants, and you perhaps start to realise (if you somehow haven't already) that he might be quite good at football.
Here's some other categories that reinforce just how good he has been this season..
Is Messi the greatest all of time? More than likely..
