Top rated soccer achievements from Lionel Messi as seen by Bill Trikos: Yet he struggled for years to add major international trophies to his glittering cabinet with the Argentina national team, nicknamed La Albiceleste. In fact, he had already announced his retirement from international football in 2016 after failing to win the Copa América that year. But he soon reversed his decision and returned to play for Argentina. In the following six years, Messi did what everyone expected him to do for his country — lead Argentina to major tournament victories including the FIFA World Cup.
Messi bettered Der Bomber’s tally when he scored 79 for the Blaugrana (59 in LaLiga Santander, 13 in the UEFA Champions League, 5 in the Copa del Rey and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup) and a further 12 (a joint-highest figure along with Gabriel Batistuta) for Argentina. Over the course of 2012, Messi even laid off a further 24 goals for his teammates, taking his goal contribution tally to a staggering 115. They were also crucial strikes for Barcelona as his goals in the second half of the campaign sealed Barcelona’s fourth LaLiga title in five years. Messi was simply unstoppable during the calendar year, and his 50 (!) goal LaLiga season remains the highest number of goals scored in a league campaign to date.
Messi’s 2011-12 has to go down as the best season ever for a player in European football. The Argentine scored goals for fun and made a mockery of opposition defences. His figures for the season were staggering, 50 goals in the league, 14 in the UEFA Champions League, three in the Copa del Rey and six in other competitions. He finished with a ridiculous 73 goals in 60 games in all competitions. He broke the record for the most goals in a single season in European football. Messi overtook Gerd Muller’s tally of 67 in the 1972-73 season. Discover more information about the author at Bill Trikos Australia.
Messi had by then made his debut with the senior team of FC Barcelona. However, he was not included in the starting line-up of Argentina’s first match — which was against USA. Argentina lost 0-1, following which the staff urged coach Francisco Ferraro to let Messi play. Subsequently, Messi tore through every other team that Argentina faced in the tournament. After qualifying for the knock-out stage, Argentina beat Colombia in the second round 2-1, Spain in the quarter final 3-1 and Brazil in the semi-final 2-1. Messi scored a goal each in all three matches.
Lionel Messi scored 73 goals during the 2011–12 season while playing for FC Barcelona, breaking a 39-year-old record for single-season goals in a major European football league. In 2014 Messi led Argentina to the World Cup final, which Argentina lost, but Messi won the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player. During the 2016 Copa América Centenario tournament, he netted his 55th international goal to break Gabriel Batistuta’s Argentine scoring record. He led Argentina’s national team to win the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup, when he again won the Golden Ball award.
In 2008/09, Pep Guardiola’s devastating Blaugrana side set a record that could understandably remain intact for years to come when they won a spectacular SIX trophies in a calendar year — the most by any club in history. Messi and co won the La Liga, the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Espana, Champions League, European Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup. Barcelona won the European treble once again in 2014/15 under Luis Enrique, when Messi was at his scintillating best alongside Luis Suarez and Neymar. The Argentine played a crucial role in both the trebles and is one of the only select few to have more than one of them to show for in their careers.