That time Lionel Messi broke football...

1 year 69 games 91 goals it sounds like something that should just not be possible yet this little chat made it all look so easy as in 2012 Lionel Messi had a year that would redefine football in a way that will never be replicated in our lifetime and to truly appreciate Messi's 91 goal year we need to understand the context of his career at that point by 2012 at Messi was already a global superstar having won multiple ballondor Awards and leading Barcelona to numerous titles however even by his high standards what he achieved in 2012

was simply Beyond exceptional in spite of this the 201 12 season was a surprisingly challenging one for Barcelona this was despite them being at their Peak under Pep Guardiola with the squad brimming with Talent the team played an intricate style of Tik taka football which revolved around quick precise passing and movement with Messi being the focal point of the system thriving in that false nine roll where he could drop deep to collect the ball link up play and then surge forward to finish off attacks however the club faced Fierce competition from Real Madrid who were

hungry to reclaim their status as Spain's top team under Jose Mourinho and so enter Leonel Messi Messi hits one oh what a goal Messi's understanding with his teammates like Javi Iniesta and buskett was telepathic it was a kind of chemistry that allowed Messi to not only score goals but also assist his teammates frequently nonetheless heading into the new year something seemingly snapped for Messi he locked in like no footballer has ever locked in before and so he wasted no time kicking off the year in blistering form as on January 4th Barcelona played against Osuna in

the COA Del re round of 16 where Messi scored two goals in a 4-nil victory this match set the tone for what was to come as just Days Later Messi received his third consecutive Balon door something which merely fueled his hunger for Success more following this he scored another brace in a 4-2 win against ra batis before then bagging his first of nine hat tricks in a 4-1 win against Malaga in February Messi's goal scoring spree slowed down as in game against ra Sid di he managed just a single goal he also managed just one

goal against B lusen in the Champions League as well seriously bro was finished ah wait never mind as on February 19th in a 5-1 win against Valencia Messi scored four goals four nonetheless it slowed down again with just one goal against Atletico Madrid with Messi seemingly back to normality finally then he went away with the national team and got another hat-- trick in a game against Switzerland yeah if you could couldn't tell already Messi's performances in February was a clear signal that he was on a mission his level of consistency was frightening he wasn't just

scoring he was creating moments of footballing magic and March was no different well actually you know what no I tell a lie it was very different because within just the first week Messi bagged five in a 71 demolition against by lusen in the Champions League round of 16 I remember watching this game just simply thinking how is this even possible I thought it was all a social experiment the footballing gods simply wanting to see how good they could make a player before we actually started to question reality after all a player scoring five in a

single Champions League game had never been done before he continued this form into La Liga as well starting with a race against rassing Club one more against seevilla and then a hattick against Granada surpassing Caesar rodrig his long-standing record to become Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official competitions bear in mind at this point he was just 24 years old it was clear that the footballing world was dealing with someone that was simply not normal this took Messi's tally for the season to 54 in 45 games as this 5-3 Victory helped cut the Gap to Rivals

Real Madrid to just Five Points it was a moment of footballing History prompting Pep Guardiola to say we are witnessing the best player in every sense he does everything and he does it every three days there are a few players that dominate in this fashion and he does it I'm sorry to those that want to sit on his throne but this lad is the best however pep was actually wrong because you see it actually took him 4 days to get his next goal bagging one against mayorca silly p nonetheless Messi then rounded out March with

a goal against b b this saw him hit 30 goals in just 3 months of football to put this into perspective for example the Premier League Golden Boot winner for the 1112 season was Robin van persy with that same amount of goals shockingly April was no different for Messi as he kicked things off with another brace this time in a 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League quarterfinals furthermore against ra arag gotha he scored two more goals but the most impressive thing he did in this game wasn't even a goal or assist yet

I still feel obliged to highlight this pass because it's the kind of pass that only Messi can make Messi bagged another goal in a 4-n win against GFE followed by yet another rce against Levante and another in a 7n thrashing of Roy varano to end April May then marked the beginning of Messi's record-breaking year as he stole his first of good mullers records with a hatrick against Malaga on May 2nd Messi took his single season European total from 65 to 68 thereby surpassing the former Bayern Munich goal magnets record of 67 this was a 40-year-old

record with Muller himself being the first to congratulate Messi on the achievement claiming it to be an honor little did he realize that Messi wasn't finished coming for him yet four more goals followed as Messi dismantled espanol 4-0 with him ending the with a goal in the Copa del re final against Athletic Club BAU in a 3-0 win bringing an end to that current season thus Messi enjoyed a season where he backed a total of 50 goals in La Liga 50 just in the league 105 goals and assist and 60 games in total across all

competitions and it's crazy to think that there was more to come because even as the domestic season ended with relative disappointment for Barcelona as a whole as they missed out on the league to Madrid whil also losing to Chelsea in the UCL semifinals Messi's goal scoring was a different story in Jun he scored a goal in a 4-nil win against Ecuador followed by a hattick in a dramatic 43 dub versus Brazil and last but not least one more versus Germany then as the 2012-13 season began in August Messi showed no signs of slowing down he

hit the ground running with the brace against ra sad in a 5-1 demolition then in the first leg of the super Cup Final Messi bagged one in the 3-2 win versus Fierce Rivals Real Madrid with Messi's influence on the game being simply otherworldly seriously he was involved in practically every attack proving to the world that this was his world and we were simply just living in it and osasuna found this out the hard way as they were on the other end of a messy brace likewise with Real Madrid just one week after he ran the

show against them in the first leg as Leo bagged a goal in the second which Real Madrid won 2-1 as Leo bagged a goal in the second how ever Los Blancos did get the last laugh as they were the ones to lift the trophy in the end based on away goals regardless but in September Messi was back with Argentina bagging grts again in a match versus Paraguay followed by two goals in 4 minutes and a 4-1 win against to GFE and the brace in the Champions League in a 3-3 draw with spartac Moscow October then

saw Messi determined to break more records he scored a brace against Real Madrid and once against Uruguay a few days later saw him versus Chile as well and so it was evident that Messi was on a mission to break gerd Muller's calendar year goal record something which was helped greatly with a hatrick against deportiva de la karuna in an insane 54 wit and a brace in a slightly less dramatic 5-nil thumping of RA Verano November then saw Messi's Champions League campaign continue with another goal against Celtic in a shock upset where the Scottish side somehow

managed to win seriously how did they pull that off none thess Messi in the club got back to winning ways a few days later in a 4-2 win over mayorca with Messi scoring twice likewise against zarra gotha as well as against spartac Moscow and against Levante the braces didn't stop there either as Messi headed into December hungry for a record which would change football forever scoring another two goals in a 5-1 win against Athletic BAU and against ra batis they were the two that made all the difference though after all they took mess total for

the year to 86 beating goodd Muller's record which stood since 1972 in his record-breaking year Muller scored 42 Bundesliga goals in 34 matches propelling Bayern Munich to the German league title in 7172 and the 7273 seasons he was also instrumental in West Germany's European Championship victories scoring five goals in the four finals games under the old tournament format M's record was further aided by bayern's intense preseason featuring a whopping 21 matches in 37 games due to the delayed start of the domestic season caused by the Summer Olympics during this period Müller scored 12 goals in

the inaugural dfb poal and added another 10 goals against Galatasaray and amonia neosia in the European Cup and whilst it was impressive enough that Messi broke a record that the footballing world considered to be impossible he then kept scoring Messi's remarkable feat at just 25 years old cemented his status as one of football's alltime greats breaking a record that many thought to be Untouchable because despite just three games remaining of the Year Messi netted five two against Cordoba in the ca Del re two more against Atletico Madrid and lastly one more to top off the

91 versus valad doid in a 31 win Messi finished this season as top scorer in Spain and Europe for a second time with 50 goals and a Liga record whilst his 73 goals in all competition made him the single season top scorer in the history of European Club football this simply extraordinary year saw Messi make it to the final three nominees for the 2012 balandor alongside teammate Andres inesta and of course Cristiano Ronaldo unsurprisingly Leo won the award with ease as it was totally undeniable no matter who or what anyone says as he was not

only the greatest footballer on the planet that year it was possibly the most impressive year of any football er ever full stop if you look just at how much Messi played for Barcelona in 2012 he scored an average of one goal every 66 minutes the whole of sant ander's team scored just 28 goals in 38 La Liga games during 20112 which is an average of 0.7 goals per game and one goal every 122 minutes this just goes to show how ridiculous Messi's aggregate was as to be exact Messi scored more goals in 2012 than an

amazing 13 La Liga teams did all season and if we're being brutally honest it's just never going to happen again firstly Messi's consistency to that level has simply just never been replicated in the modern game the closest has been is with levandowski and Ronaldo with 69 but with both of them now in the Twilight of the career you're left with the likes of mbappe and Harland admittedly mbappe has proved he can bang them in as he topped the charts with 56 in 2022 and 53 the year after likewise with erling Harland and his insane year

at the time but Messi simply being built different isn't the only reason this record can't be beaten as the game has evolved greatly in those 12 years defenses have become more organized with teams more focused on nullifying key players now the level of tactical preparation and Analysis today makes it even more challenging for a player to consistently find the back of the net at the rap Messi did is it's often less about having one man score all the goals but rather individuals helping the team as a whole share the goals furthermore whilst Messi played a

staggering amount of games in 2012 with 69 this is now the average for example in France across all teams players on average played 65 games across 2023 this influx of games alongside the new Champions League format taking this number up even more means Squad depth is more important than ever this means means that even the tip top players are more at risk of being left on the bench than ever again if we use earling Harland as an example as soon as Man City had mathematically secured the league title in the 2223 season he didn't play

again due to the upcoming finals this was to ensure he wasn't fatigued or even worse injured now this of course is beneficial for the squad as a whole as they went on to win a treble however those couple of games are the Difference Maker for anyone aspiring to break Lionel Messi's record and so I think it's incredibly unlikely that any player in our lifetimes will ever come close if you enjoyed this video please make sure you leave a like subscribe ding that notification Bell after all it would mean the world to me also maybe check

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