Leo Messi, 60 games and 46 goals in 2020/21 season
The Copa America over, Leo Messi can now get some well-earned rest after yet another extraordinary season, where in addition to the South American championship, he also won the Copa del Rey with Barça.
Goals galore
Messi played 47 games in four different club competitions last season, and scored 38 goals, which break down as follows (he didn’t find the net in the Spanish Super Cup):
Liga: 30
Copa del Rey: 3
Champions League: 5
The 30 he scored in La Liga (0.85 a game) earned him his eighth Pichichi trophy as top scorer (a record, of course) and the fifth in a row.
His breakdown of Liga goals was as follows:
Left foot: 27
Right foot: 1
Head: 2
For Argentina too
For his country, Messi has played World Cup 2022 qualifiers and at the Copa America, playing a tournament MVP-winning role as he guided Argentina to its first title in the latter since 1993, while also topping the list for both goals scored (4) and assists (5).
Record breaker
No season goes by without Messi breaking some record or other, and in 2020/21 he surpassed Xavi Hernández to become the player with the most all-time appearances for Barça, and also beat Pelé’s seemingly impossible-to-top record of 643 goals for a single club.
As well as matching the record for appearances at the Copa America, he set a new record of international caps for Argentina, moving ahead of his former blaugrana teammate Javier Mascherano. Yet more records for the collection. With a new season soon to begin, we wonder what tricks he has up his sleeve next?