Barcelona FC might not have not have won the La Liga this season, but they sure do have a reason to smile as their ‘boy wonder’ Lionel Messi has scored 68th goal of the season, surpassing German legend Gerd Muellar’s European record.
Messi achieved this feat after he scored a hat-trick against Malaga last night at the Camp Nou and helped his team win 4-1. Mueller who used to play as a striker for Bayern Munich scored 67 goals in the 1972-73 season and remained as record till night.
Messi, who is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished footballers now, has nine hat-tricks to his name this season and 46 league goals, two more than his bitter rival Christiano Ronaldo. Messi’s 14 goals including five in one match against Bayer Leverkusen is also a record in itself.
At such a young age of 24, he has almost accomplished almost everything a player would want to and the only regret Messi would have is that in spite of being one of the main reason behind the best football club in the World, he has not been able to inspire his national team Argentina to a World Cup Crown. And does he achieve in doing in 2014 in Brazil, he definitely would become immortal in the history book of football.
Here are some of the facts that Indian Sports News have compiled in order to make Messi a little more known to his fans:
• Lionel Messi has the distinction of scoring the 5000th and 5100th goals for Barcelona. The 5000th goal came in the 2009 season at Nou Camp against Racing Santander, while the 5100th goal was scored by him at Almeria in 2010.
• Lionel Messi is one of the shortest footballers of all times. At the age of 11 he was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency. The treatment was costly and it was Barcelona who signed this prodigy for their youth academy and took care of his medical bills. It was due to the treatment that was done in Spain helped him to reach a normal height of 5 ft 7 in.
• At such a young age, he knows the art of paying back the society. He is a philanthropist and has a foundation by the name of Leo Messi Foundation. Messi taking cues from his own childhood established this foundation so that the underprivileged kids can get proper medical facilities. He is also a goodwill ambassador to the UNICEF.
• Messi has almost won La Liga five times, has three champions League titles to his name amongst others. He has won the FIFA World player of the year once (2009), World Soccer player of the year (2009, 2011), Balon d ’Or once (2009) and FIFA Balon d’Or twice (2010, 2011). He is the first Argentine player to win the FIFA player of the award.
• Messi who is in constant race with Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo has edged past him and is the highest earning footballer in the present scenario. Ronaldo’s salary is more, but Messi’s income from other activities makes him richer than the Portuguese forward. Messi also has a good record when it comes down to awards and accolades. Messi first in the 2009 season pipped him to win the Balon d’Or and then again in 2011 beat him win the 2011 Balon d’Or.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
