10 - Lionel Messi - v2

[Garrus]

You're all forgetting the fact that as the years will pass he'll start moving back, Until he becomes a permanent midfielder someday, I think he'll reach the 550 goal mark by the end of his career.

 

[Kerrybai]

You're all forgetting the fact that as the years will pass he'll start moving back, Until he becomes a permanent midfielder someday, I think he'll reach the 550 goal mark by the end of his career.

550 would mean he'll score 209 more goals. Provided he avoids injury he should surpass 550 before his 30th birthday, maybe even before his 29th.

 

[Vapor]

Could that possibly have been floated in any more perfectly??

 

[mixer]

Messi: "Tito looks very cheerful. It's really important for the whole group to have him with us for the final stage of the season."
Messi: "Ovation Celta fans for Abidal before game? It was amazing. At first I didn't know why they were applauding, until I saw Abi pass by"

 

[ceefoo]

Could that possibly have been floated in any more perfectly??

What makes it even more impressive, is that most players would stand there and admire it.

Messi can play a lofted pass like this on the run and will still try to get in the box and score.

 

[raskolnikov]

Pele is third behind Bican and Romario. Here's the list http://www.rsssf.com/players/prolific.html

Note, it counts also regional and lower divisional games.

If Messi can keep this up 2-3 seasons, he will be up there in the end.

Gerd Müller is the only top goalscorer we can take seriously imo, Pele's record is hard to take serious due to the circumstances at the time and the opposition he scored against.
Same with Romario where he suddenly got 400+ goals in Brazil after age 30.
And then you had players like Daek,Bican, Puskas who padded most or all of their record in what most likely was a very poor local competition.
Which means all the great goalscorers outside of Müller got 500+ but not over 600.

Leo will probably have 400 after Christmas, its no unrealistic that he gets 350 more in the 8/10 years after that.

 

[DonAndres]

I agree.

Romario was a great player but not as great as his goal record would reflect. He and Pele kind of over-elongated their careers just to milk their goal tally.

Muller however showed it on the highest stage on countless occasions and he truly was worthy of being touted as such a prolific goalscorer. Messi is going to be the same by the end of his career.

 

[BarcaGirl]

I still can't believe he didn't get the Penalty

 

[Flavia]

I still can't believe he didn't get the Penalty

The ref was Lahoz, so that's not really a surprise.

 

[Xtroverto]

Gerd Müller is the only top goalscorer we can take seriously imo, Pele's record is hard to take serious due to the circumstances at the time and the opposition he scored against.
Same with Romario where he suddenly got 400+ goals in Brazil after age 30.
And then you had players like Daek,Bican, Puskas who padded most or all of their record in what most likely was a very poor local competition.
Which means all the great goalscorers outside of Müller got 500+ but not over 600.

Leo will probably have 400 after Christmas, its no unrealistic that he gets 350 more in the 8/10 years after that.

It will depend on other things to, such as injuries, other players performances, if Neymar arrive this summer then in the future the goalscoring will be more eqilibrated between him and Messi rather than Messi scoring 50% of all goals for Barcelona. Also his own motivation will be a factor, can he sustain his dedication to the sport over the course of his whole career?

He now has these goalscoring records in La liga that no footballer is likely to break in our lifetime:

Most goals scored in one season 50 could be improved
Most goals scored in one season home 35 will never be improved
Most goals scored in one season away 23 will most likely be improved before the end of this season
Most rounds scoring in one season home 16 will probably never be improved
Most rounds scoring in one season away 14 will most likely be improved before the end of this season
Most consecutive rounds scoring 19 could be improved
Most consecutive rounds scoring away 12 could be improved
Most hat-tricks scored in one season 8 will probably never be improved

And before the end of this season he will most probably get Ronaldos record of scoring in 27 matches, he only has to score in 3 of the remaing 9 rounds.

 

[KhaledBarca]

Here's a List for most goals ever in top leagues:
These numbers include goals scored in official games (club+country, senior level):

1st: Pele (757 goals in 815 games).
2nd: Romario (749g in 972m)
3rd: Puskas (709g in 720m)
4th: GMuller (640g in 723m)
...

Cristiano Ronaldo (351g in 613m).
Messi (341g in 452m).



note: couldn't find reliable source concerning Bican!

 

[Karnivore]

Lets say he continues with 70 for the next four seasons (until he's 29) - that's already 280 goals on top of the 320(?) he'll have by the time he's 26 in June. By then he should be on about 600 goals minimum, and by 29 he should be entering his very best years as a player. Unlike Ronaldo, he's not reliant on the physical aspects of his game, even when his acceleration goes and he can no longer get away from players, he's shown he's got the poacher instinct.

So hard to predict right now, but if we've learnt anything over the past four or five years, nothing is impossible for Messi. At the rate he's going he should be hitting 700 by the time he retires, possibly even 800. Even if he drops deeper in his 30's his scoring form isn't going to dry up. Lampard's still doing the business for us at 35 years of age from midfield and Messi's infinetely better than him.

 

[Papabeef]

Could that possibly have been floated in any more perfectly??

Yeah... kept thinking man i wish i was hearing what Ray Hudson had to say right there ! The pass was brilliant Tello's touch and finish were sublime....

 

[KhaledBarca]

UPDATED: Messi has outscored 126 of the 148 teams playing in top 8 leagues this season in AWAY GAMES

I have to improve the quality of this for image next time
https://twitter.com/BarcaStat/status/318488036155473920/photo/1

 

[Luftstalag14]

Yes I know he will need to work hard to adapt but he currently has the necessary skills to make the transition , I.e passing and vision. The biggest issue for him will be learning how to control the tempo of a game from the middle. It may never happen but I hope it does as it could prolong his time at Barca.

Agreed on learning to control the tempo. Other than that, I felt Messi needs to ramp up his physical strength, work rate, running distance etc.