Thomas Muzekari
Staff Writer
FC Barcelona star, Lionel Messi inched closer to breaking yet another record Wednesday, November 5 as he scored two goals against Ajax (located in the Netherlands) in Barcelona’s 2-0 win. With Messi’s 70th and 71st Champions League goals, he tied ex-Real Madrid player, Raul for the most goals in the Champions League. The record for the most goals in the Champions League by a player could be broken by Messi as soon as November 25 when Barcelona plays Apoel Nicosia. This is not the only record Messi is chasing right now. The Argentine is just two goals away from breaking the record for most goals in La Liga. Messi could break ex-Atletico Bilbao striker, Telmo Zarra’s record of 251 La Liga goals (set 60 years ago) with two more goals. It is incredible how many records Messi holds considering he is only 27 years old. “The magician, the genius of football (soccer),” FC Barcelona announcer Ray Hudson called Messi. Messi is known as one of the best players ever, if not the best ever. He has won a record four Ballon D’Or awards which are given to the best player in the world every year. He did this in four consecutive years. He could become a five time winner this year as he is having another brilliant year.
In Messi’s La Liga career he has scored 250 goals and also has had 100 assists in 248 appearances. In 2012 Messi broke the record for most goals in a year as he scored 91 goals for Barcelona. Those 91 goals in one year goes down as one of the best individual years for a soccer player ever. Barcelona and Real Madrid are in a tight race for the league title. Real Madrid beat Barcelona 3-1 on October 21 in the Bernabeu (Real Madrid’s home stadium). The Barcelona-Real Madrid match, next time at Camp Nou (Barcelona’s home stadium) should be an important one on March 22. Messi will look to expand his incredible goal and assist totals leading up to this match in March. Messi and Barcelona will hope to win yet another league title this season after losing a close, down-to-the-wire battle with Atletico Madrid last season. Messi could expand his La Liga goal total as soon as November 22 against Sevilla and his Champions League goal total as soon as November 25 against Apoel Nicosia. Messi has broken many records and two more should be broken by the Argentine very soon. There is much to argue that Messi is the best soccer player ever considering his four Ballon D’or awards, his 91 goals in a season record, and of course many other records that he has broken. It is not just the eye-opening stats and records that place Messi where he is in history, but also just the pure skill, knowledge, and creativity he possesses for the game. “He’s the best ever, there is no other like him,” ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola (now Bayern Munich coach) described the Argentine. Messi, just 27, should expand many of his records and put his name under even more as he looks to lead Barcelona for many more years to come.
