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Messi dream season continues with latest milestone

Leo Messi (Getty Images)

It is no secret that Leo Messi is a scoring machine, but his most recent two-goal outing saw him do something that has not been done in almost 40 years.

Messi upped his season total to 60 goals scored across all competitions with his brace in Barcelona's 4-1 win vs. Real Zaragoza, marking the first time a player has scored that many in a major European league since Gerd Mueller found the  net 67 times for Bayern Munich in 1972-1973.

With 38 goals to his name in La Liga this season, the Argentine star is currently ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo by one to lead the league in scoring. Both players are within striking distance of Ronaldo's league record of 40 goals scored in one season, which the Portuguese attacker accomplished last campaign.

Messi still has seven league games to build on his season total, but he also has 10 games (11 if Barcelona reaches the Champions League final) to add on to the 60 he has netted in all competitions. If he can accomplish both these feats while simultaneously helping Barcelona in the race for first in La Liga and in the club's quest for a Champions League title, Messi will continue to make the case that he is the best player to ever play the game.

If you missed Messi's goals this weekend, you can see them here:

 

What do you think of Messi's season so far? Expecting him to surpass Mueller's goal total and beat Ronaldo to the goal-scoring title? Would you consider Messi the best player ever if he scores more than 67 goals and helps Barcelona to a Champions League crown and La Liga title? Are you one of the people who thinks he has to win a World Cup to truly be considered one of the best ever?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Charles, having read your comment again, I think that people (including myself) misinterpreted it. The usual knock by some dimwitted EPL fans on La Liga is that there are only two good teams in Spain where all the talent is concentrated but the rest of the league is garbage. So Messi, Ronaldo and the like are facing substandard opposition, but wouldn’t be able to do well in the EPL against superior teams with superior defenses. We took your mention of pulling all the greatest players in the league as a backhanded compliment to Messi, La Liga, etc. However, I now I don’t think that this was what you intended.

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  2. You mean the Europa League…the same competition that Fulham took Athletico Madrid to the brink in 2 years ago? Nobody cares about the Europa…

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  3. Making fun of me ?!?!?!

    What did I say worth making fun of exactly. I wasn’t referring to LaLiga vs EPL, others took it there. I am referring to the current state of soccer and record which is going to be set in that environment.

    And I am 100% correct.

    And I said Messi was beyond great and I am 100% correct.

    Where do you get off saying make fun of me ?

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  4. I’m not even sure if you are even replying to what I wrote. Where do I ever refer to the EPL?

    I think all Euro leagues suffer from the same downside to varying degrees. Hence, my initial statement that MLS actually enjoys something that the rest of the world does not.

    As for your argument regarding the competitiveness of the EPL vs. La Liga, I would argue that it’s more fun to watch the big 4-6 EPL teams (ManU/ManCity/Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal/Tottenham) play out the title race than watch the two superpowers in La Liga decide the title between themselves (even if the talent level in the EPL is not quite as high at the moment). Just a matter of preference I suppose and you’re certainly entitled to see it the other way around.

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  5. For me its a little hate from many different areas.
    1) Don’t care for barca/madrid duopoly
    2) Hard to watch a la liga game with the amount of diving/complaining to refs
    3) (I realize life is unfair) But the amount of debt that these 2 teams are in, and are still allowed to play and spend the way they do is VERY unfair
    4) The shirt sponsorship of barca was a hard pill to swallow
    5) Not doing much of anything besides the past few games with the argentina nat’l team

    -This is also coming from a person who couldn’t stand Michael Jordan, so take my thought process with a grain of salt

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  6. If you do not think there is at least a slight problem with the fact that Ronaldo and Messi have scored more goals individually than MOST OF THE REST OF THE TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE, then you are off your rocker.

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  7. When I mentioned how the title race is usually pretty much decided by Christmas I was referring to the EPL. The multiple games they play over the two week period of Christmas/New Years seems to be too much for most teams to be able to handle, and only 1 or two come out of it in a good positions, and that team usually goes on to win the league. This year was an anomaly because, as far as I remember, nobody sweeped those games and so we ended with something of a race for the end (though not much of one as really it was only Man U and Man C contending).

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  8. Right, unlike the EPL which has had a total of 4 teams win it in it’s existence (ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea and Rovers). This season has been an anomaly as usually the title race is pretty much decided during the Christmas period (seems during that period there’s only 1 or 2 teams that come out of it well and have an insurmountable lead that leaves the rest of the table no longer relevant to the title race). Usually over the past 20 years the race in La Liga was much tighter than in the EPL.

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  9. To play devil’s advocate, if those titles mattered, teams like Nigeria and Ghana would be vying for EVERY world cup…

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  10. Of the 4 times in the last 25 years that another team won, Valencia did it twice in the early 00’s, while Atletico and Depor were the other two.

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  11. Ok, it’s a slow work day after the holiday yesterday. I went to look on Wikipedia and out of the last 25 years, there have only been 4 times when someone besides the top two teams won the league. That pretty much speaks for itself…

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  12. This.

    I think the “hate” for Messi on this website is only noticeable because those that do hate Messi reaaaalllly hate Messi. And to be honest, such hate can only be derived either from jealousy or because you are from a specific region of Spain.

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  13. I agree with your overall premise that La Liga has the most talent of any league right now, but I think the competitiveness within the league itslef (or lack thereof) is what most people are referring to. Over the last 20 years, how many different teams have won La Liga? If your answer is 3 (I recall Valencia won a couple of times towards the late 90’s/early 00’s – not sure if anyone else won it during that span), then I would agree that it’s not much of a competition outside of Barcelona and R.M.

    From that standpoint, I actually think MLS has a leg up on the rest of the world. It’s part of why the NFL is so successful – several teams can realistically have a shot to win it during any given season.

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  14. There is so much hate and deflection on here for a player that is everything great about the game.

    Humble.
    Team player.
    Incredibly skilled.
    Unselfish.
    Hard worker.

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  15. Portugal is better than Argentina, by a lot. Argentina has one of the worst defenses in major football, and their midfield is so poor that Messi has to play CM.

    Even then he leads the team in assists and scoring I believe.

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  16. Nothing.

    It holds no role. There is nothing to it. Messi had a severe medical problem and was given treatment to allow him to develop naturally.

    That’s just a stupid comment. He would have been a legal small person suffering from a lot of problems arising from underdevelopment.

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  17. Not being able to carry Argentina to World Cup glory will be his asterisk if he doesn’t accomplish it. He plays for Argentina for crying out loud. This isn’t like George Weah with Liberia or even Ronaldo with Portugal.

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  18. Yeah, that’s why 5 of 8 semifinalists in Europe are from La Liga.

    Man United, who is 8 points clear of anyone in the EPL, was wiped around the pitch by a mid table La Liga squad over two legs.

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  19. My question is what role does the whole growth hormone treatment hold in the discussion? I know he was medically diagnosed, but can someone argue that without the growth hormone he would be the same player? If he was shorter and less developed would he be as good as he is?

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  20. a joke? that’s why La Liga has 5 of 8 teams in Europe?

    i do understand this concern though. but CR scored 42 goals in all competitions with United in 07-08. 31 in 34 apps in the EPL.

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  21. Of the 8 teams left between the Champions League/Europa League, 5 of them are from Spain. Yet you say that La Liga is a joke?!?! That might be the most asinine statement I’ve ever heard. Messi is playing in the best league in the world. He would dance circles around the defenders in England.

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  22. Hello…we have a winner…La Liga is joke because of this…he would be lucky to score half of that playing in the EPL…

    Taken into consideration indeed…

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  23. Not trying to discount his greatness, because he is beyond great no doubt.

    But, Barca has a goal differential of +67 and RM +73. At some point, the pooling of all the greatest players of the league on two teams has to be taken into consideration.

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  24. Greatest of all time is still a bit of hyperbole right now…He definitely on the path, and it looks like he may become the greatest, but it’s hard to say so until he’s done it 10 years running like all other “Greatest of All Time” contenders. Also, many, including myself, never got to see Pele, Maradona, Cruyff personally in our prime, so the hyperbole is understandable because he’s the best WE’VE seen.

    But i liken it to when you hear younger people compare Kobe or Lebron to Jordan, but those of us who saw Jordan in his prime just shake our heads at how foolish those kids sound, ha.

    Don’t get me wrong, it looks like he’ll do it, and we’ll all be grateful for being witness to it. I think, for detractors, it doesn’t help that Barcelona would be almost just as dominating without him, and the only team he’s played on that NEEDS him to be on all the time to win a championship(Argentina) hasn’t won one yet.

    Nonetheless, we are looking at greatness anyways!

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  25. Ugh. I’m so sick of Messi. At this point I’d welcome a flip flop in coverage to see CRonaldo get some press.

    They’re on the exact same pace but because Messi is tiny and cherubic he gets an unprecedented 100000000% of the media coverage. I could not care less about either one of them by now.

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  26. He is the best to have ever played the game. But to be the best player of all time he must have another 5 years of astonishment. Does that even make sense? I hope he does continue to amaze for even 10 years. He is fun to watch and is mostly a team player.
    The same cannot be said for Ronaldo. He doesn’t show the same team effort that Messi puts forth.

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  27. I’m American. My wife is Brazilian.
    ME: Messi is the greatest of all time. Or does he need to win a World Cup?
    WIFE: Just one? He needs to win more than one.

    Reply

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