Another game and another remarkable milestone for Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. His two goals at the weekend, gave him 76 goals this calendar year, moving him ahead of Pele and within reach of Gerd Müller’s record of 85 goals from 1972.
Of his 76 goals this year, Messi has scored 64 for Barça and 12 for Argentina.
Messi has averaged a remarkable 1.29 goals per match in his 59 matches this year (51 games for his Club, 8 for his country). Pelé, in 1958, scored 75 goals from 53 matches, averaging 1.41 goals per match. 66 of the Brazilian’s goals were scored for Santos and 9 were scored for the Brazilian national team.
48 of Messi’s 76 goals in 2012 were scored in La Liga, 33 scored last season and 15 scored this season. In addition, the world’s best player scored 11 goals in the Champions League, 3 in the Cup and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup.
Pelé, on the other hand, scored 58 goals in the Paulista Championship and 8 in the Rio-Sao Paulo Tournament, in addition to his 9 goals for the Brazilian national team. Of his nine goals for Brazil, six of them were scored in the World Cup in Sweden, the first of three World Cup titles won by Pele, and three more goals were scored in friendlies.
Messi’s 76 goals in 2012
FC Barcelona (64 goals)
- Liga (48 goals): Málaga (6), Rayo (4), Espanyol (4), Valencia (4), Real Sociedad (3), Granada (3), Getafe (3), Deportivo (3), Mallorca (3), Zaragoza (2), Levante (2), Osasuna (2), Real Madrid (2), Racing (2), Betis (2), Sevilla (1), Atlético Madrid (1) and Athletic Club (1)
- Champions League (11 goals): Bayer Leverkusen (6), AC Milan (2), Spartak Moscow (2) and Celtic (1)
- Cup (3 goals): Osasuna (2) and Athletic Club (1)
- Spanish Super Cup (2 goals): Real Madrid (2)
Argentina (12 goals)
- 2014 World Cup qualifiers (5 goals): Uruguay (2), Chile (1), Ecuador (1) and Paraguay (1)
- Friendlies (7 goals): Sweden (3), Brazil (3) and Germany (1)
With 10 games left in 2012, baring injury, Messi should break Mueller’s previously unbreakable record in mid-December. At this scoring pace, he will end the season with 89 goals, 3 more than Mueller.
