Thursday, March 28, 2024
Home Fantasy Football How many Guinness world records does Messi have?

How many Guinness world records does Messi have?

According to sources and the Guinness website, Lionel Messi possesses as many as 60 Guinness World records to his name.

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of his generation and one of the best players of all time. Part of an exclusive group of all-time greats, positions previously held by Pele and Diego Maradona, Messi has achieved and done enough over the course of his career to demonstrate that he belongs in the same company.

A genius on the pitch, he has broken and set several records over the course of his almost two-decade-long football career. But how many Guinness World Records does Messi have and what are those? Let’s discuss below:

How many Guinness World Records does Messi have?

The 34-year-old has won nine La Liga titles as a Barcelona player, four UEFA Champions Leagues, three FIFA Club World Cup, a Ligue 1 and Trophee des Champions with Paris Saint Germain and has also won the Copa America and Finalissima with his national side Argentina.

Also Read: Goat of football

He has also won the Ballon d’Or, the prize awarded to the best footballer on the planet on a given year, a historic seven times over his career and Messi also has six European Golden Shoes to his name.

Notable Guinness World Records held by Lionel Messi

Most goals in a calendar year

Lionel Messi holds the record for the most goals in a calendar year when he 91 goals scored in a single year in 2012. The previous record was held by Gerd Muller who had scored 85 goals in 1972. Messi overtook his record in December after scoring twice against Real Betis in La Liga.

Messi was at the peak of his goal-scoring powers in 2012, finding the back of the net and dismantling any and every opposition. He was unstoppable in front of goal and racked up plenty of assists as well. In fact, Messi finished that year with more goals than clubs like Manchester United, Paris Saint Germain and Juventus.

Although Zambia’s Football Association challenged the record of Messi scoring the most goals in a calendar year, instead, claiming that Godfrey Chitalu had scored a dizzying 109 goals in 1972, making him “the only player in the history of football who managed to score 100+ top-level goals in a year.”

However, the claims remain unproven as FIFA couldn’t verify the legitimacy of those goals and matches and the Guinness world record belongs to Messi.

Most Ballon d’Ors and European Golden shoe wins for a player

Lionel Messi is by most accounts the greatest footballer to have ever lived. He holds the record for winning the most number of Ballon d’Or awards after winning his seventh crown as recently as 2021. The Ballon d’Or is awarded by France Football (previously in association with FIFA) to the best player in the world over a single calendar year and Messi has been by far the biggest recipient of the award. He was also the first to win four consecutive Ballon d’Or trophies between 2009 and 2012.

Messi also holds the record for winning the most European Golden Shoes in world football. The European Golden Shoe is given to the player who finishes a season in European football with the most number of goals. Messi is a legendary goal-scorer and his record-breaking Golden Shoe wins suggest the same given that he has won the award six times over his career.

In comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo, long seen as a rival of Messi, has won five Ballon d’Ors and four European Golden Shoe victories.

Most appearances for a foreigner and most goals scored in La Liga

Lionel Messi also holds the record for the most appearances in La Liga by a foreign player. He has appeared in 520 La Liga matches, playing for Barcelona between 16 October 2004 to 23 May 2021. The record for the most appearances as a player in La Liga belongs to Andoni Zubizarreta.

Meanwhile, no player in the history of the Spanish League has scored more goals than Messi. He has scored 474 goals for Barcelona in La Liga and has a sensational strike rate of 0.91 goals per game.

Messi finished as the highest goal scorer in La Liga for eight seasons –  a league record in Spain. He has also netted 36 hat-tricks in La Liga. The previous record for the most goals in the league was held by legendary Athletic Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra who had scored 251 goals. Messi broke the record with a hat-trick against Sevilla on 22 November 2014.

Lionel Messi also holds the record for the most goals in a season of La Liga when he scored 50 in 2011/12. He has also scored the highest number of goals in the famous El Clasico fixture against Real Madrid, finding the back of the net 26 times against Barcelona’s arch-rivals.

Most goals in a single UEFA Champions League match

Lionel Messi set a sensational world record when he scored five goals in a single match against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League in 2012. He found the back of the net five times during the second leg of the contest held at Camp Nou and it stands as a world record to this day in Europe’s most elite continental competition.

Also Read: Champions League top scorer

Youngest Player to score 50 Goals in the Champions League

Messi is also the youngest player to reach the mark of 50 goals in the UEFA Champions League. On 3rd April 2012, Messi scored a brace of goals against AC Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at Camp Nou. It was a milestone evening for both the player and the club as they beat the Italian rivals 3-1.

Messi scored the 50th goal of his UEFA Champions League career on that night as he scored a penalty in the 11th minute of the game. At 24 years, 9 months and 10 days, Messi became the youngest player in the history of the tournament to reach that milestone.

The Argentine sensation found the back of the net once again from the penalty spot in the 41st minute to reach 14 goals in the UEFA Champions League that season, breaking the previous record that had been held by Jose Altafini in 1962/63 while playing for Milan themselves. However, Messi’s record for most goals in a single Champions League season has since been broken multiple times by Ronaldo.

Messi was also the first player to reach the tally of 80 UEFA Champions League goals and is now the second-highest goal-scorer in the history of the competition, behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

Most goals scored in the history of football for a single club

Lionel Messi is also the proud owner of the record of scoring the most goals for a single club in the history of football. He obviously set the record with Barcelona, playing for the senior side between 2005 and 2021. Messi scored an astonishing and jaw-dropping 672 goals for the Catalan giants and is comfortably, the highest goal-scorer in the history of the club and Spanish football.

The previous record had belonged to Brazilian legend Pele who had netted 643 goals for his club Santos over the course of his football career.

Most powerful sports star

The Guinness World Records also recognise Lionel Messi as the most powerful sports star in the world. With an evaluated fortune of $ 130,000,000 million dollars (£114,842,650.00) as verified by Forbes on 22 September 2022, Messi of Argentina is the most powerful sports star in the world.

FAQs

How many international trophies does Lionel Messi have?

Lionel Messi has two international trophies to his name: the Copa America in 2021, and the Finalissima in 2022.

How many trophies has Messi won with Barcelona?

Messi has won a historic 34 trophies with Spanish club Barcelona between 2005 and 2021.

Which club does Lionel Messi play for?

Lionel Messi now plays for Paris Saint-Germain in France.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular

DOWNLOAD & GET ₹30K*