Barca brothers: Messi celebrates with Alexis Sanchez after scoring against Real Madrid in the Super Cup, first leg at the Nou Camp.

His goal in the 3-0 Copa Del Rey final win over Athletic Bilbao helped deliver Barcelona the Cup for the 26th time. Only when he had the ball you saw that he was happy, and you realised he was the best player in the world.". Except when you're playing chess, you sit on a chair and you have three or four minutes to decide your move. Honours finished even, with both superstars scoring twice in a 2-2 draw. "When I saw him in the hallway at the hotel, and he came in with that jacket, I thought, ‘Look—the best player in the world,'" Cotrina said. It was an incredible shift by a man who had come from his sickbed.
Un immense record. He is always with a football at home.". Three days after exiting the Champions League, Guardiola announced he would step down in a press conference. It never hits the crossbar.

This is the most for any player in the Spanish top flight. The 5-1 win over Valencia was Messi's 200th La Liga appearance.

"From training with him, you could tell he had something different.". On March 7, 2012, Messi scored five times for Barça in a single game. His most recent, in a 5-2 win over Mallorca on December 7, 2019, was his 35th, and helped him to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo (34). The flagship Barça school. "The photo illustrates the superiority of Barca in respect of Madrid during this era," Cotrina says.

The month started with another moment of joy for Messi, presumably far greater than any of his goals, as his girlfriend gave birth to baby Thiago on November 2. Another prolific month, which saw ten goals for club and country. Messi's speed is something Reinhartz stresses. "Guardiola confronted Messi. This then became a world best when a remarkable four goals in the Catalan derby with Espanyol took his tally to 72 and leapfrogged Archie Stark, who scored 70 for Bethlehem Steel in the 1924-1925 American Soccer League.

"I spoke a lot with Guardiola about Leo," Martin says. Galloping sprinters such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale come more readily to mind. Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final (3-0), Goals for Argentina - 4 Running total - 51. Vilanova died in April 2014. Nobody else can boast such a figure in Spanish football.

Messi won four Ballon d'Or awards in a row. Despite all his powers, his ability to terrorise the defences of the world's best teams, he doesn't have the confident bearing on the pitch of a man who is master of his domain. Messi started March in magnificent style, scoring five goals in the second leg of Barcelona’s Champions League second round match with Bayer Leverkusen as part of a 7-1 rout. En 2012, Lionel Messi effectuait peut-être sa plus grande année individuelle.

"It was easier for him on the first team because the players around him could understand what he was going to do. RECORD!
The director of the orchestra and his star violinist welded in an embrace after their final work.". Curiously, Messi played better once he got into the first team.

The Official site of the Barça Foundation. There's a different atmosphere there. 7th – One goal vs. Celtic in the Champions League (1-2), 20th – Two goals vs. Spartak Moscow in the Champions League (3-0), Goals for Barcelona - 4 Running total - 86.

Most goals in a calendar year. Here are 20 such milestones that he has reached.

He broke a record that had stood since the 1950s. Messi and his team-mates were visited by further turmoil in December of that year, when Guardiola's successor, Tito Vilanova—who had coached Messi at La Masia, Barcelona's youth academy—had a relapse of throat cancer. ACCOLADE!

I remember that Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa touched Messi on the head.

The year 2012, in which Lionel Messi scored an incredible 91 goals in 69 games, began inauspiciously for him.