10 extraordinary records Lionel Messi still holds

Lionel Messi is the only player ever to score in his teens, his 20s, and his 30s at the World Cup.

He first scored at the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a 19-year-old in Argentina's 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro, then five times in 2014, and once in 2018.

He's also not only Argentina's top ever scorer, but the nation's top assister, too.

Messi has scored 70 goals and produced 38 assists for his country. His closest rival in the goal-scoring department is Gabriel Batistuta, who struck 54 times.

No player has scored against as many different La Liga opponents than Messi.

The 32-year-old has scored against 37 different clubs in the Spanish top flight in his career. His most frequent victim is Sevilla, whom he was, rather strangely, scored against 37 times.

Nor has anyone in La Liga ever scored as many free-kicks.

Messi has scored an astonishing 34 times directly from free-kicks in La Liga, six of which came during the 2018/19 season. Of that half dozen, three were in consecutive games against Real Betis, Espanyol, and Villarreal.

He's also scored the most La Liga hat-tricks.

In December 2019 against Mallorca, Messi hit his 35th La Liga hat-trick, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 34.

Messi is the king of El Clasico and is its record goalscorer.

In games against Real Madrid, the Barcelona man has hit 26 goals, which is the highest total in the fixture's history. Its also eight more than Cristiano Ronaldo has managed.

In 2015, he became the only player to have ever scored in 7 competitions in a calendar year.

He netted goals in La Liga, the Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, Copa America, UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

During that same year, he also became the youngest ever player to make a century of Champions League appearances.

He reached the landmark during a 1-1 draw with AS Roma, aged 28 years 84 days, eclipsing Real Madrid icon Raul's record by 155 days.

He's Barcelona's most effective ever substitute, having scored 34 times from the bench

Even when he's not starting, Messi still makes an impact.

He's the top scoring La Liga substitute of the 21st century, with 22 goals.

Lastly, he's been featured on the cover of more video games than any other soccer star.

Messi has starred on the cover of 11 games — six editions of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer, and five of EA Sports' FIFA.

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