Top 5 goalscorers in 2019 club and international football

#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona / Argentina): 50 goals

Lionel Messi

Producing yet another fabulous goal-scoring season for club and country, Lionel Messi's tally of 50 goals during the year is only bettered by one other player.

The Argentine magician scored 21 Liga goals in 19 games in the first half of the year as Barcelona won back-to-back Liga titles. A sixth season of topping the Spanish top-flight scoring charts took Messi level with Telmo Zarra's 66-year record of 6 Pichichi awards (top-scorer in a Liga season).

Messi's 6 goals in as many games in the knockout round of the 2018-19 Champions League almost took his side to their first final in the competition in four years. But they squandered a three-goal lead in the second leg of their semifinal defeat to eventual winners Liverpool.

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The only blot in another fabulous year for the Barcelona captain came at the Copa America in Brazil. Argentina's defeat to eventual winners Brazil in the semis extended Messi's and the Latin American nation's long trophy drought in major international competitions.

Despite a belated start to the 2019-20 season owing to injuries, Messi became the first player to score in 16 consecutive Liga seasons, 15 consecutive Champions League seasons, and against 34 different opponent teams in the Champions League. He also took sole ownership of most Liga hat-tricks (35).

It marked the 9th time in the last 10 years that Messi scored 50 or more goals for club and country, his 2013 return of 45 goals being his most modest return during this spell.