What’s next? Millions are still wondering that what’s next for the little Argentine after his World Cup adventure. His 11th season for Barcelona has started; all previous in the Blaugrana jersey have been filled sheer magic. Messi has already won everything twice or more that is offered on club level; ironically he is just 27 – the starting phase of the peak years for any footballer. Previous Saturday, Leo scored against Rayo Vallecano, taking his career goals tally up to 403 in 527 games.
This year, 16th October marks the 10th anniversary of his official debut at FC Barcelona. During the previous decade Messi has registered 249 strikes in La Liga. Yes, 249! Now he is just 3 goals away from breaking Telmo Zarra’s 59 years old record for being the highest goal-scorer in Spanish football history. Soon this half-a-century old record will be done and dusted. Comparatively, legendry Zarra accumulated his 251 goals tally in 15 seasons.
When Messi’s hang ups his boots, he won’t only be La Liga’s all-time top scorer but also European leagues’ top scorer. Messi averages 24.3 league goals considering the previous 10 seasons, assuming that Messi continues his “average” scoring rate in the upcoming 5 seasons, he will push his league goal tally to a whopping 365 league goals. That number of strikes will eventually lead him to become EUROPE’s ALL-TIME LEAGUE TOP SCORER. Momentarily, this record is held by Gerd Muller, he scored 365 League goals in 15 seasons (Germany). Knowing how Messi plays, he can surely end up his career with over 400 league goals.
Being just 27, Messi will push this record to new unparalleled heights. Obviously we won’t see the return of 2012’s Messi, the one who scored a whopping 91 goals in a calendar year – a world record! We must accept Messi’s next 10 years won’t be as glorious as the previous 10, Leo has just returned from his worst seasons in a long while, where injuries and off-the-pitch issues have drastically affected him; Messi didn’t win the World Cup, yet dragged Argentina into a final which it had no business reaching. People might find my expectations too optimistic, but that’s the way Leo sets his standards. Breaking barriers is what Messi has been doing since his debut 10 years ago, hopefully he will continue to do so & the amazing part is that I won’t be surprized!
