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As 2021 draws to an end, it is time to look back at the year that was, with a lot of things happening over the course of the calendar year. Lionel Messi finally won his first international trophy with Argentina and also moved on to PSG from Barcelona.
Cristiano Ronaldo won the top-scorer's award in yet another league with Juventus in Serie A, while he returned to Manchester United in what was the biggest transfer of the season.
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Robert Lewandowski finishes as the player with most goals in the calendar year 2021
One thing that hasn't changed this year was the fact that Bayern Munich's goal-machine Robert Lewandowski ended up with the most goals in the calendar year. The prolific striker has been the player with the most calendar year goals since 2019 and is showing no signs of slowing down.
As Lewandowski takes home the crown for the player with the most calendar year goals in 2021, here we take a look at the players who have scored the most goals in a calendar year in the 21st century (for club and country).
#10 Lionel Messi - 58 goals (2014) | Barcelona & Argentina
2014 was not a fruitful year for Lionel Messi, as he did not win a single major trophy with Barcelona. It was a monumental year for the Argentine forward though as he made it into the FIFA World Cup final only to lose to Germany. But his performances earned him the best player award in the competition.
The left-footed forward had a great outing in front of the goal that year and was able to find the back of the net 50 times for the Catalan club and eight times for La Albiceleste.
This is just the third-highest goal tally in a calendar year for Messi, a figure most attackers fail to achieve even once in their careers.
#9 Lionel Messi - 59 goals (2011) | Barcelona & Argentina
Lionel Messi was probably the greatest footballer during the 2010s and in the first year of the decade, he enjoyed great success with Barcelona and helped the La Liga giants to five trophies in 2011.
He won the third Champions League of his career that year as he finished as the top-scorer in the continental competition that season, scoring 12 goals as he led the club to glory that season.
He scored twice in the first-leg semi-final at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid and also one in the 3-1 win over Manchester United in the final. The 59 goals that year and a trophy-laden season with Barcelona earned him a third consecutive Ballon d'Or in January 2012.
#8 Lionel Messi - 59 goals (2016) | Barcelona & Argentina
2016 was another great year for Lionel Messi in front of the goal. Though he did not win the top-scorer's award in either La Liga or the Champions League in the 2015-16 season, he was able to rack up 51 goals for Barcelona across all competitions.
He also had a good outing with the Argentina national team and was able to find the back of the net eight times in international competitions. He scored five times in the Copa America as they made it to the final for the second time in a row, only to lose to Chile again.
#7 Lionel Messi - 60 goals (2010) | Barcelona & Argentina
Lionel Messi first breached the 60-goal mark in a calendar year in 2010. He enjoyed a great 2009-10 season, ending as the top scorer in the 2009-10 La Liga and Champions League campaigns.
While he enjoyed great outings with Barcelona that year, winning the La Liga title and Supercopa de Espana, he could not help Argentina beyond the quarter-finals in the FIFA World Cup. He only scored two goals for the national side in the calendar year. Despite that, he was voted the winner in the Ballon d'Or ceremony in January 2011.
#6 Cristiano Ronaldo - 60 goals (2011) | Real Madrid & Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo's maiden appearance on our list comes on account of his fairly successful second season with Real Madrid. He scored 60 goals in 2011, the best output in a calendar year of his career then, as he was unable to breach the 50-goal mark with Manchester United.
He also won the first Pichichi trophy of his career in the 2010-11 campaign and the second European Golden Shoe award, thanks to 40 goals in the 2010-11 La Liga campaign.
He also won the first title in Spain, the Copa del Rey, in 2011. He also scored seven goals for Portugal in eight outings, which was again the highest tally for the national team in a year until then.
#5 Cristiano Ronaldo - 61 goals (2014) | Real Madrid & Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo's goalscoring exploits in the 2014 calendar year saw him win his first Champions League title with Real Madrid. He scored 17 goals in the competition, the bulk of them in the knockout stage as Real Madrid lifted the historic La Decima that season.
He was also the top-scorer in La Liga in the 2013-14 campaign and also bagged five goals for Portugal that year. Four trophies with Real Madrid in the calendar year saw him win the Ballon d'Or in January 2015.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo - 63 goals (2012) | Real Madrid & Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo was on fire in the 2011-12 season and scored a whopping 46 goals in La Liga as Real Madrid lifted the league title in the summer. He also won his first Supercopa de Espana, which was just the second silverware during that calendar year.
His goalscoring form continued in the 2012-13 campaign too, which helped him take his tally for the calendar year to 63 goals, the second-highest he has ever reached in his career.
He only scored five goals for the Portugal national team, with three of them coming in EURO 2012 as they were eliminated in the semi-finals by arch-rivals Spain on penalties.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo - 69 goals (2013) | Real Madrid & Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo's best-ever outing in a calendar year came in 2013. But unfortunately, the Portuguese forward did not win a single trophy to show for all of his goalscoring exploits.
It was also the first calendar year in which he reached double-digits in goals for Portugal, with most of them coming in the qualification campaign for the 2014 World Cup.
He also recorded 11 assists in the Spanish top-flight that year while also finding the back of the net 15 times in the Champions League in the calendar year. He was awarded the Ballon d'Or that year, one of the rare occasions on which a player lifted the trophy after a trophyless calendar year.
#2 Robert Lewandowski - 69 goals (2021) | Bayern Munich & Poland
The list of records Robert Lewandowski has broken in recent years has continued to grow. With 43 goals scored in the calendar year, he has become the highest-scoring player in a single year in Bundesliga history.
Including goals from the Champions League, DFB Pokal, and international competitions with the Poland national team, he has scored a total of 69 goals this year. His tally is the same as third-placed Cristiano Ronaldo, but Lewandowski required one fewer game to do so.
He has won two titles with Bayern Munich this year and was the winner of the inaugural Best Striker of the Year award at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in November.
While he has not won any silverware with Poland in his career, 2021 was the most prolific calendar year in national colors as he scored 11 goals in 12 outings for the White and Reds.
#1 Lionel Messi - 91 goals (2012) | Barcelona & Argentina
Lionel Messi achieved an almost impossible goalscoring record in 2012, as he scored a whopping 91 goals for club and country, overtaking Gerd Muller's record of most goals scored in a calendar year. It was an amazing accomplishment for the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, who also provided 22 assists that year.
Out of the 91 goals, an astonishing 59 came in 38 La Liga appearances, a goal every 57 minutes. In 2012, Messi scored the most goals in a calendar year for Argentina as well, finding the back of the net 12 times. It remains the only year when he has reached double-digit figures with the national team.
While he won just one trophy with Barcelona in 2012, he was showered with individual honors during the calendar year and won the Ballon d'Or, Pichichi Trophy, European Golden Shoe, La Liga Best Player of the season and Argentina Footballer of the year awards.
