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Lionel Messi has created and broken many records in his illustrious career, but his sensational goal-scoring record from 2012 never fails to amaze football fans. La Pulga's legendary statistics in a single calendar year recently resurfaced online, with fans on X being in awe of his numbers.
Throughout 2012, Lionel Messi scored 91 goals and recorded 24 assists in 69 games. Out of the 91 goals, he scored 79 of them for his then-club Barcelona and the other 12 for his national team.
With his historic numbers, La Pulga broke the world record for the highest number of goals scored in a single calendar year, surpassing Germany's Gert Muller who previously held the record with 85 goals in 1972.
Messi's statistics look even more impressive when compared to Erling Haaland's numbers for Manchester City. The Norwegian striker has scored 91 goals and set up 15 more in 100 games since joining the club in June 2022 (in two years and two months) which was matched by Messi in only one calendar year.
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Fans took to X to react to Messi's legendary numbers from the past, with many still being in awe of La Pulga's peak. Here are some of the reactions:
"Greatest peak a player will ever reach in the history of football," a user said.
"Messi isn’t human man," a fan exclaimed.
"How’s this guy playing with the normal human beings ??" a user wondered.
"Messi is extraterrestrial," a fan added.
"Still wondering how Messi did that. Omo, that's gonna be impossible to break," a netizen opined.
"Safe to say, it will take at least a 100 years for someone to break Messi’s record. The GOAT for a reason," an individual commented.
The reactions continued as fans claimed it would be hard to beat such a record.
"You can’t compare gods to humans," a fan mentioned.
"Insane stats," a user wrote.
"Messi was a playmaker and Haaland was striker, that it even makes these stats look more ridiculous," a netizen mentioned.
A look at Lionel Messi's magical 91 goals in one calendar year in 2012
25-year-old Lionel Messi enjoyed a glorious year in 2012 by scoring a record 91 goals for his club and country. 79 of Messi's goals were scored for Barcelona in 60 appearances, while 12 more in nine games for Argentina. As per Bleacher Report, it equates to an average of 1.319 goals per match.
Despite enjoying great numbers individually, La Pulga did not win any accolades with Barcelona or Argentina. La Blaugrana finished second in La Liga in the 2011-12 season, surpassed by Real Madrid. They also bowed out of the UEFA Champions League after a defeat to Chelsea in the semi-finals.
However, Lionel Messi found the net 50 times in La Liga in 37 appearances and 14 times in the Champions League in 11 appearances, becoming the highest goalscorer in both competitions in the 2011-12 season (via Transfermarkt).
Lionel Messi won his fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or in 2012, although he was surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2012-13 season.
