{"id":2684,"date":"2022-11-09T20:04:42","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T20:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/?p=2684"},"modified":"2023-11-14T10:36:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T09:36:00","slug":"lionel-messi-career-achievements-records-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/blog\/lionel-messi-career-achievements-records-stats","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi Career Achievements, Records &amp; Stats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lionel Messi started his career in academies in Argentina, but by his teenage years he was in Barcelona, developing into a footballing genius.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Messi was treated for a growth hormone deficiency as he honed his skills in the famed La Masia academy, walking an unusual path to superstardom.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Offers from abroad were rejected in favour of remaining with Barcelona. Messi flourished at La Masia, ultimately earning a call-up to the first team as a teenager and earning praise from Ronaldinho after his initial training session with the senior squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Argentine has had a career unlike any other in the history of the sport. Let\u2019s take a look at his biggest achievements and records.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"lionel-messi-s-barcelona-records\">Lionel Messi\u2019s Barcelona Records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Messi won six of his record-setting seven Ballon d\u2019Or awards while playing for Barcelona, with the last of the seven coming months after he joined Paris Saint-Germain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 2009 and 2012, Messi became the only player to win the Ballon d\u2019Or in four consecutive years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi won 10 La Liga titles (2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2018-19) and four Champions Leagues (2005-06, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2013-14) at Barcelona.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi is Barcelona\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer with 672 goals in 778 appearances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Argentine broke Cesar Rodriguez\u2019s record for the most Barcelona goals when he was just 24 years of age with a hat-trick against Granada in 2012.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>His tally for Barcelona is the most official goals for a single club of any footballer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi is one of two players (the other is Cristiano Ronaldo) in Champions League history to score over 100 goals, with 120 of his 129 coming for Barcelona.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2011-12, Messi scored 73 times, the most by any player in a club season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2012, Messi broke Gerd M\u00fcller\u2019s 40-year record for the most goals scored in a calendar year by netting a brace against Real Betis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons saw Messi become the only player in football history to have consecutive seasons with 60 or more goals in all competitions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 2009-10 and 2018-19, Messi became the only player ever to have 12 consecutive seasons with 40 or more club goals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When Messi made his league debut in October 2004, he was the youngest player to represent Barcelona in an official competition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi scored his first senior goal in May 2005, and became the club\u2019s youngest ever goal scorer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In March 2021, Messi made his 768<sup>th<\/sup> appearance for Barcelona to break Xavi\u2019s club record.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has won the European Golden Shoe a record six times, and won the award in three straight years between 2017 and 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 2009 and 2019, Messi set the record for the largest gap between his first and last Ballon d\u2019Or wins.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi holds the record (80 goals) for the most goals scored in the Champions League group stages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has been named to the Champions League Squad of the Season a record seven times.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2015, Messi became the only player to score in seven official competitions in a single season: La Liga, the Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, Copa Am\u00e9rica, UEFA Super Cup, Supercopa de Espa\u00f1a and FIFA Club World Cup.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>France Football named Messi in the 2010s Team of the Decade.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"lionel-messi-s-la-liga-records\">Lionel Messi\u2019s La Liga Records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Messi\u2019s 474 goals in 520 appearances is the most of all-time ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s tally of 311.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has 233 La Liga assists, more than any other player.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2012-13, Messi set the La Liga record for the longest scoring run at 21 matches (he scored 33 goals over that span).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has won the Pichichi Trophy on eight occasions, two more times than anyone else.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has been named Best Player in La Liga on six occasions, more than any other player.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>His 2011-12 season was his most prolific with 50 La Liga goals, setting the record for the most in a single campaign.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi\u2019s total of 36 La Liga hat-tricks is the most all-time, and eight of those came in 2011-12, which is also a record.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Argentine holds the record for the most El Cl\u00e1sico goals with 26, eight ahead of anyone else.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi is tied with Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos for the most El Cl\u00e1sico appearances on 45.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2019-20, he set a La Liga record with 21 assists in a single season.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has been the La Liga top assist provider on six occasions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"lionel-messi-s-argentina-records\">Lionel Messi&#8217;s Argentina Records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Messi has scored 90 goals in 164 Argentina caps since debuting in 2005.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has the most caps of any Argentina player.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The leading scorer in CONMEBOL, only Cristiano Ronaldo and Ali Daei have scored more international goals than Messi.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After finishing as a runner-up in 2007, 2015 and 2016, Messi won the Copa America in 2021 and was awarded Best Player.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi has the most Copa America appearances and the most assists in the history of the tournament.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi\u2019s 12 Argentina goals in 2012 is tied with Gabriel Batistuta for the most goals in a calendar year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi holds the record for the most goal contributions at major international tournaments with 40.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"lionel-messi-s-world-cup-records\">Lionel Messi\u2019s World Cup Records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Messi has made 19 World Cup appearances across the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 tournaments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi won the Golden Ball at the 2014 World Cup despite Argentina\u2019s final loss to Germany.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Four of Messi\u2019s six World Cup goals were scored at the 2014 edition with one scored in 2010 and one in 2018.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Only two Argentines \u2013 Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta \u2013 have scored more World Cup goals than Messi.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi holds the record for the most Man of the Match awards at the World Cup with six.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>His four Man of the Match awards at the 2014 World Cup is the most won by a player at a single edition of the tournament.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When he scored against Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 World Cup, Messi became Argentina\u2019s youngest goal scorer in the competition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Messi is the only player to win the Golden Ball at the senior World Cup, the under-20 World Cup and Copa America.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Messi started his career in academies in Argentina, but by his teenage years he was in Barcelona, developing into a footballing genius.&nbsp; Messi was treated for a growth hormone deficiency as he honed his skills in the famed La Masia academy, walking an unusual path to superstardom.&nbsp; Offers from abroad were rejected in favour&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":28074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[643],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2684"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28436,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2684\/revisions\/28436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}