![SPECIAL ReportSPECIAL ReportC6 C7
Gulf News | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 | gulfnews.com HHHH gulfnews.com | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 | Gulf News
A goalscorer
beyond compare
Record-breaking Lionel Messi doesn’t just score
lots of goals, he does so with style, making him
the most complete goal-getter of all time
Dubai
S
coring goals, according
to many football players
and pundits, is the
hardest skill in the game.
Indeed, even the most
prolific of strikers on Planet
Earth are, at times, afflicted by
the sudden and inexplicable in-
ability to hit the back of the net.
But in the rarefied realms
of Planet Fantasy Football, the
sole preserve of record-break-
ing Barcelona star Lionel Messi,
frustrations such as goal-scor-
ing droughts and fallow peri-
ods involving losses of form are
non-existent. Instead, in Mes-
si’s utopian universe, there are
only torrents of goals and a rich
harvest of consistently incred-
ible performances.
For, to paraphrase Shake-
speare, if goals be the food of
football, Messi wants excess of
them. It is this glorious greed for
goal-scoring which led to him
surpassing German legend Gerd
Muller’s 40-year-old world re-
cord of 85 goals in a calendar
year — a tally so seemingly un-
touchable that few football afi-
cionados had heard of it — on
Sunday with a brace in Barcelo-
na’s 2-1 win at Real Betis. Messi
now has 86 goals to his name
in 2012 with potentially three
games left to play before the
year is out. No wonder Arsene
Wenger, the Arsenal manager,
once said Messi was akin to a
“PlayStation player”.
To further illustrate the scale
of Messi’s extraordinary achieve-
ment, the great Brazilian Pele is
‘only’ third in this pantheon of
great goal-getters with a ‘mere’
75 goals to his name in 1958.
Stylish and sublime
What makes Messi’s landmark
feat all the more special is that he
is not an orthodox forward in the
vein of Muller, who was chiefly
renowned for his predatory pen-
alty-box poaching.
Indeed, Messi’s goal-scoring
repertoire is far more stylish
and varied than the man who
was known as “Der Bomber”
— the Argentine capable of
making the net bulge in myriad
ways unlike the more one-di-
mensional German.
Through his own sublime
skill — the impossibly adhe-
sive, scampering feet, light-
ning-quick changes of control,
breathtaking bursts of speed and
slaloming runs — the little magi-
cian frequently fashions chances
from which he himself can score.
One of his most memorable
efforts, a stunning, mazy drib-
ble from the halfway line ending
in a sumptuous finish against
Getafe in 2007, bore uncanny
similarities to Diego Mara-
dona’s legendary strike for Ar-
gentina against England in the
1986 World Cup quarter-final.
It was arguably an even greater
effort, given that the final touch
to Maradona’s tour de force was
applied via a sliding tackle from
England’s Terry Butcher.
Like the great Bayern Munich
and West Germany striker of
the 1960s and 70s Muller, Messi
is not averse to prodding home
so-called ‘ugly goals’ from
close range. He is deadly from
outside the penalty box, too, as
Arsenal fans will recall after he
lashed in a ferocious equaliser
in a four-goal virtuoso perfor-
mance for Barcelona at the Nou
Camp against the Gunners in
the 2010 Champions League.
This goalscorer supreme has
also developed into a prodi-
gious taker of free-kicks, which
was spectacularly illustrated in
Barcelona’s El Clasico encoun-
ter with Real Madrid in October
when he curled in a delightful
set-piece from 30 yards out.
Absolute beauties
He’s therefore not just a great
goal-scorer, but a scorer of great
goals, even with his head — de-
spite being a diminutive 5ft 7ins
— as he showed when he nodded
home Barcelona’s second goal
in their 2-0 Champions League
final destruction of Manchester
United in 2009. His boss at Bar-
celona, Tito Vilanova, perfectly
encapsulated his star’s preter-
natural goal-scoring ability thus:
“Leo continually breaks records.
His goal tally is spectacular. It
takes other great players seven
or eight seasons to score the
amount of goals he scores in one
season. Also, some of his goals
are absolute beauties.”
So, how has a singular striker
like Messi turned into an in-
comparable goal machine?
It’s widely accepted that his
status as the most potent play-
er in football owes much to his
former coach at Barcelona, Pep
Guardiola. When Guardiola took
over from Frank Rijkaard at the
Nou Camp in 2008, Messi was a
mercurial winger who regularly
cut in from the left wing.
Guardiola, though, sensed his
talisman would be even more
effective if unleashed in a cen-
tral role, and therefore gave him
licence to roam in a position
which has become known as
‘the false nine’. In other words,
Messi is not a traditional cen-
tral striker, or number 9, who
exclusively prowls the penalty
area waiting for the ball to come
his way. Instead, he drops deep
into midfield when required to
join in attacks, many of which
he initiates himself.
It was a tactical masterstroke
from Guardiola, which has
yielded jaw-dropping dividends
year on year. In Guardiola’s first
season, 2008-09, Messi netted
38 goals in all competitions for
Barcelona. Since then, he has
plundered 47, 53 and 73 goals for
his club alone in the next three
seasons up to the end of the
2011/12 campaign. The statistics
he is compiling are quite outra-
geous. He is Barcelona’s all-time
leading goal-scorer at the age of
only 25 with 283 goals; holds the
record for the most La Liga hat-
tricks in a single season (8); and
he scored the most goals ever in a
single season with 73 in 2011/12.
And that’s to name but three of
his never-ending and luminous
collection of achievements.
All football lovers should,
like Messi when he scores,
thank a higher power for pro-
viding us with a footballer of
such striking abilities.
Editorial Comment — D2
By Euan Reedie
Deputy Sports Editor
❝I’ve said it a lot,
it’s nice to beat
records but the
win for the team is
what is important
and the points dif-
ference at the top.”
Lionel Messi |
Barcelona star
❝It seems impossible
to score so many
goals, let’s hope
he can add to the
record in the games
to come.”
Tito Vilanova |
Barcelona manager
❝For me Messi is the
best in the world.
For the last few
years he has played
at a level of football
we have never seen
before.”
Ronaldinho |
Ex-Barcelona star
❝When Messi has
scored 1,283 goals
like me, when he’s
won three World
Cups, we’ll talk
about it.”
Pele |
Brazilian legend
Muller, the man Messi eclipsed
Berlin
L
ionel Messi broke Gerd Mul-
ler’s 40-year-old record on
Sunday for the most goals
scored in a single year, but the
lifestyles of ‘Der Bomber’ and
the magical Argentine could not
be more different.
Messi was in double form for
Barcelona at Real Betis in the
2-1 win to take his goal tally
for the calendar year onto an
incredible 86 — one more than
the previous record of 85 set by
Muller in 1972 for Bayern Mu-
nich and West Germany.
At the peak of his career —
when he scored the winning goal
in the 1974 World Cup final —
Muller basked in the same god-
like status Messi now enjoys.
But having battled alcoholism
since his retirement in 1981, his
public appearances are limited
now to the occasional Munich
match and a German television
milkshake advert alongside cur-
rent Bayern and Germany star
Thomas Mueller.
“I ruined my life,” ‘Der
Bomber’ admits having blasted
an incredible 68 goals in his 62
appearances for his country.
He bowed out on the inter-
national stage at just 28 years
of age after hitting the winning
goal in Munich as West Ger-
many beat Holland 2-1 to win
the 1974 World Cup. Mueller
finished with 365 goals in 427
Bundesliga games.
While Messi has been instru-
mental in helping Barcelona en-
joy a golden era in the club’s rich
history, the same was true for
Muller and Bayern in the 1970s.
In 1965, Muller, Sepp Maier
and Franz Beckenbauer in-
spired the club to promotion to
the Bundesliga. Munich became
champions for the first time in
1969, before claiming a hat-
trick of domestic titles in 1972,
1973 and 1974. The dream team
then won the European Cup
three times from 1974 to 1976.
Impressive titles
“Everything that FC Bayern
has become is due to Gerd Mul-
ler and his goals,” said Becken-
bauer, who captained Germany
to the 1974 World Cup win and
coached the 1990-title winning
team. Muller was the club’s top
scorer every season from 1964-
65 to 1977-78, and the Bundes-
liga’s leading marksman seven
times.
His collection of personal
awards is as impressive as the
titles Bayern won. At 21, he
was voted German Player of the
Year in 1967, then in 1970, he
became the first German to be
crowned European Footballer
of the Year after winning the
top scorer award at the Mexico
1970 World Cup. When his play-
ing career ended after a three-
year spell in the North Ameri-
can League, Muller admits he
descended into deep crisis and
began drinking heavily.
Bayern’s current president Uli
Hoeness helped get him back on
his feet by offering him a con-
tract in 1992; initially to look af-
ter sponsors, scout for talent and
coach strikers and goalkeepers.
He later became a youth coach
and first team assistant.
— AFP
The German was
the goal king of the
1970s, before battling
alcoholism when
he retired
AP
Goal bound
■■ The predatory Muller scoring the first of his two goals in
West Germany’s 3-0 win over the USSR in the final of the
European Championships in Brussels on June 18, 1972.
Stunning set-piece
1
At Atletico Madrid in
February Messi proved
decisive for Barcelona
as only he can. With
the score locked at 1-1 with
nine minutes remaining,
Barcelona won a free-kick on
the left-hand corner of the
home side’s box. It looked an
impossible angle from which
to score, especially for a left-
footer like Messi. But the little
maestro, after a brief discus-
sion with Xavi Hernandez,
curled home an outlandish
left-foot shot into the top
right-hand corner of the net
to the bewilderment of goal-
keeper Thibaut Courtois.
Audacious chip
2
In a record-breaking,
virtuoso performance
in March, Messi be-
came the first player
in Champions League history
to score five goals in a match
in Barcelona’s 7-1 thumping
of Bayer Leverkusen. The sec-
ond of his five goals was par-
ticularly delightful; from the
right-hand side of the box,
running slightly away from
goal, he produced a sublime
right-foot chip over the Bayer
goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
International brilliance
3
Messi has often been
criticised for not re-
peating his club form
for Argentina, but in
June’s friendly against Brazil
he was in scintillating form.
He scored a hat-trick (his
12th treble for club and coun-
try in the 2011-12 season)
in his country’s 4-3 win. His
third goal, with just six min-
utes remaining, was simply
sensational; Messi picked up
the ball near the halfway line
on the right flank, cut inside
Real Madrid’s Marcelo then
hurtled towards the Brazilian
penalty area. He then let fly
from just outside the D with
his left foot, lashing a stun-
ning shot into the top corner
of the net.
Fabulous free-kick
4
Messi showcased his
prodigious deadball
skills again when he
put Barcelona 2-1
ahead against Real Madrid
in a pulsating El Clasico
encounter at the Nou Camp
in October. He left goalkeeper
Iker Casillas helpless by ar-
rowing a perfectly flighted
free-kick into the top right-
hand corner of the net from
30 yards out. Messi had ear-
lier come to his side’s rescue
in time-honoured fashion by
firing home Barca’s equaliser
into the roof of the net from
close range.
Record-breaker
5
The goal that broke
the record on Sunday
was a typically ac-
complished and
memorable finish from Messi.
Barcelona wing-back Adriano
started the move, surging for-
ward from deep and playing
in Messi, who passed the ball
to Andres Iniesta. The mid-
field maestro then teed up
Barcelona’s main man with
a delightful backheel and
Messi did the rest, delivering
a crisp angled shot into the
far corner of the net.
E.R.
Is he the best player in the world?
Dubai
Y
esterday the world of
football was marking
25-year-old Messi’s goal-
scoring feat. Gulf News spoke to
its readers for their reaction to
his record-breaking achieve-
ment in scoring 86 goals in a
calendar year.
Mazin Mohammad Saleh, a
22-year-old Sudanese student
based in Sharjah and a Barcelo-
na team supporter, hailed Messi
as an outstanding player. How-
ever, he believes credit should
also go to his team’s midfielders.
He said: “I believe that the
midfielders, specifically [Andrés]
Iniesta and Xavier [Hernandez],
helped him beat this record.”
Saleh believes that it is unlikely
Messi’s record will be broken.
“I don’t think anyone else will
have Messi’s talent coupled
with such a great team to sup-
port him.”
Omnia Adel Al Dahshouri, a
23-year-old administrative as-
sistant and a die-hard football
fan, said: “Messi really has an
unmatched talent; his upper-
body strength really enhances
his performance as a player.”
She, too, doubts his record
will be beaten anytime soon.
“He’s still very young and will be
around for a long time. He’s not
the best player in the world, but
he is definitely one of the best.”
Praveen Raj, was full of ad-
miration for Messi. “Everything
about him makes him such a
great player; his talent and en-
ergy and presence in the field.
The only person who will ever
beat this record will be himself.
After [Diego] Maradona, Messi
is definitely the best football
player ever,” he said.
Ehab Hassan, an American-
Palestinian project co-ordinator
based in Dubai, disagreed that
Messi’s landmark goal tally
would never be beaten. He feels
that there will always be new
and more talented players to
challenge the mark. He said:
“Every generation of footballers
is built to be more competitive
for a changing style of play. I’m
pretty sure no one knew that
Muller’s record would be broken
before Messi came into play.”
Hassan believes many factors
make Messi an amazing player.
“Thefactthathehasasmallbuild
and is more agile than the others
helps harbour his intense skill.
You cannot forget that he plays
withateamthatsupporthimand
they too are full of talent.”
— The writer is a
trainee at Gulf News
Gulf News readers give
their views on Argentine
breaking world record
By Lameese Hajissa
Special to Gulf News
5top
goals
86goals netted by
Messi in a calendar
year — a record
Untouchable
85goals achieved by
Gerd Muller in
one year in 1972
Der Bomber
75goals scored by the
Brazilian great,
Pele, in 1958
Legend
LIONEL MESSI
■■ Birthdate: June 24, 1987 - age
25
■■ Birthplace: Rosario, Argentina
■■ Height: 1.69m (5ft 7in)
■■ Club: Barcelona since 2004
■■ Major club honours: Three
Champions Leagues, five
league titles in Spain, two
Spanish Cups, two Super
Cups, two Club World Cups
■■ International caps: 76 (31
goals)
■■ International honours:
Olympic gold medal (2008)
■■ Individual honours: Three
Ballons d’Or titles (2009, 2010,
2011)
■■ The man nicknamed La Pulga
(the flea) has terrorised de-
fences in La Liga and scored
around a goal a game over the
past three seasons — most of
them spectacular.
factfile
86 66GOALS GAMES
IN 2012
When the goals
have been scored
Where the goals
have been scored
How the goals
have been scored
Breakdown of Messi’s
career goals
14
12
60
56
72
86
12
5
2
3
13
La Liga
Champions
League
Friendlies
World Cup
qualifiers
Spanish
Super Cup
Copa del Rey
7
For Argentina For Barcelona
0-15 mins
4 18 14
11 16 23
15-30 mins 30-45 mins
Penalties Outside
penalty box
Inside
penalty
box
4
Neutral
20112012 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
43
Home
39
Away
3
Head
8
Right foot
75
Left foot
45-60 mins 60-75 mins 75-90 mins
86
59 60
41
22
31 12
3
How the record was achieved
HAVE YOUR SAY
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Do you think Messi is the greatest
football player in history? Of his
86 goals in 2012, which was your
favourite? Post a comment on our
Facebook page or email us at
readers@gulfnews.com
EPA
Celebration time
■■ Barcelona striker Lionel Messi gestures after surpassing the record in the Spanish
La Liga at Benito Villamarin Stadium in Seville on Sunday.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dced4c06-dc2b-40d2-9f34-91de4b7c0507-151004172244-lva1-app6891/85/Messi-feature-1-320.jpg)
Messi feature
- 1. SPECIAL ReportSPECIAL ReportC6 C7 Gulf News | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 | gulfnews.com HHHH gulfnews.com | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 | Gulf News A goalscorer beyond compare Record-breaking Lionel Messi doesn’t just score lots of goals, he does so with style, making him the most complete goal-getter of all time Dubai S coring goals, according to many football players and pundits, is the hardest skill in the game. Indeed, even the most prolific of strikers on Planet Earth are, at times, afflicted by the sudden and inexplicable in- ability to hit the back of the net. But in the rarefied realms of Planet Fantasy Football, the sole preserve of record-break- ing Barcelona star Lionel Messi, frustrations such as goal-scor- ing droughts and fallow peri- ods involving losses of form are non-existent. Instead, in Mes- si’s utopian universe, there are only torrents of goals and a rich harvest of consistently incred- ible performances. For, to paraphrase Shake- speare, if goals be the food of football, Messi wants excess of them. It is this glorious greed for goal-scoring which led to him surpassing German legend Gerd Muller’s 40-year-old world re- cord of 85 goals in a calendar year — a tally so seemingly un- touchable that few football afi- cionados had heard of it — on Sunday with a brace in Barcelo- na’s 2-1 win at Real Betis. Messi now has 86 goals to his name in 2012 with potentially three games left to play before the year is out. No wonder Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, once said Messi was akin to a “PlayStation player”. To further illustrate the scale of Messi’s extraordinary achieve- ment, the great Brazilian Pele is ‘only’ third in this pantheon of great goal-getters with a ‘mere’ 75 goals to his name in 1958. Stylish and sublime What makes Messi’s landmark feat all the more special is that he is not an orthodox forward in the vein of Muller, who was chiefly renowned for his predatory pen- alty-box poaching. Indeed, Messi’s goal-scoring repertoire is far more stylish and varied than the man who was known as “Der Bomber” — the Argentine capable of making the net bulge in myriad ways unlike the more one-di- mensional German. Through his own sublime skill — the impossibly adhe- sive, scampering feet, light- ning-quick changes of control, breathtaking bursts of speed and slaloming runs — the little magi- cian frequently fashions chances from which he himself can score. One of his most memorable efforts, a stunning, mazy drib- ble from the halfway line ending in a sumptuous finish against Getafe in 2007, bore uncanny similarities to Diego Mara- dona’s legendary strike for Ar- gentina against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final. It was arguably an even greater effort, given that the final touch to Maradona’s tour de force was applied via a sliding tackle from England’s Terry Butcher. Like the great Bayern Munich and West Germany striker of the 1960s and 70s Muller, Messi is not averse to prodding home so-called ‘ugly goals’ from close range. He is deadly from outside the penalty box, too, as Arsenal fans will recall after he lashed in a ferocious equaliser in a four-goal virtuoso perfor- mance for Barcelona at the Nou Camp against the Gunners in the 2010 Champions League. This goalscorer supreme has also developed into a prodi- gious taker of free-kicks, which was spectacularly illustrated in Barcelona’s El Clasico encoun- ter with Real Madrid in October when he curled in a delightful set-piece from 30 yards out. Absolute beauties He’s therefore not just a great goal-scorer, but a scorer of great goals, even with his head — de- spite being a diminutive 5ft 7ins — as he showed when he nodded home Barcelona’s second goal in their 2-0 Champions League final destruction of Manchester United in 2009. His boss at Bar- celona, Tito Vilanova, perfectly encapsulated his star’s preter- natural goal-scoring ability thus: “Leo continually breaks records. His goal tally is spectacular. It takes other great players seven or eight seasons to score the amount of goals he scores in one season. Also, some of his goals are absolute beauties.” So, how has a singular striker like Messi turned into an in- comparable goal machine? It’s widely accepted that his status as the most potent play- er in football owes much to his former coach at Barcelona, Pep Guardiola. When Guardiola took over from Frank Rijkaard at the Nou Camp in 2008, Messi was a mercurial winger who regularly cut in from the left wing. Guardiola, though, sensed his talisman would be even more effective if unleashed in a cen- tral role, and therefore gave him licence to roam in a position which has become known as ‘the false nine’. In other words, Messi is not a traditional cen- tral striker, or number 9, who exclusively prowls the penalty area waiting for the ball to come his way. Instead, he drops deep into midfield when required to join in attacks, many of which he initiates himself. It was a tactical masterstroke from Guardiola, which has yielded jaw-dropping dividends year on year. In Guardiola’s first season, 2008-09, Messi netted 38 goals in all competitions for Barcelona. Since then, he has plundered 47, 53 and 73 goals for his club alone in the next three seasons up to the end of the 2011/12 campaign. The statistics he is compiling are quite outra- geous. He is Barcelona’s all-time leading goal-scorer at the age of only 25 with 283 goals; holds the record for the most La Liga hat- tricks in a single season (8); and he scored the most goals ever in a single season with 73 in 2011/12. And that’s to name but three of his never-ending and luminous collection of achievements. All football lovers should, like Messi when he scores, thank a higher power for pro- viding us with a footballer of such striking abilities. Editorial Comment — D2 By Euan Reedie Deputy Sports Editor ❝I’ve said it a lot, it’s nice to beat records but the win for the team is what is important and the points dif- ference at the top.” Lionel Messi | Barcelona star ❝It seems impossible to score so many goals, let’s hope he can add to the record in the games to come.” Tito Vilanova | Barcelona manager ❝For me Messi is the best in the world. For the last few years he has played at a level of football we have never seen before.” Ronaldinho | Ex-Barcelona star ❝When Messi has scored 1,283 goals like me, when he’s won three World Cups, we’ll talk about it.” Pele | Brazilian legend Muller, the man Messi eclipsed Berlin L ionel Messi broke Gerd Mul- ler’s 40-year-old record on Sunday for the most goals scored in a single year, but the lifestyles of ‘Der Bomber’ and the magical Argentine could not be more different. Messi was in double form for Barcelona at Real Betis in the 2-1 win to take his goal tally for the calendar year onto an incredible 86 — one more than the previous record of 85 set by Muller in 1972 for Bayern Mu- nich and West Germany. At the peak of his career — when he scored the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final — Muller basked in the same god- like status Messi now enjoys. But having battled alcoholism since his retirement in 1981, his public appearances are limited now to the occasional Munich match and a German television milkshake advert alongside cur- rent Bayern and Germany star Thomas Mueller. “I ruined my life,” ‘Der Bomber’ admits having blasted an incredible 68 goals in his 62 appearances for his country. He bowed out on the inter- national stage at just 28 years of age after hitting the winning goal in Munich as West Ger- many beat Holland 2-1 to win the 1974 World Cup. Mueller finished with 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games. While Messi has been instru- mental in helping Barcelona en- joy a golden era in the club’s rich history, the same was true for Muller and Bayern in the 1970s. In 1965, Muller, Sepp Maier and Franz Beckenbauer in- spired the club to promotion to the Bundesliga. Munich became champions for the first time in 1969, before claiming a hat- trick of domestic titles in 1972, 1973 and 1974. The dream team then won the European Cup three times from 1974 to 1976. Impressive titles “Everything that FC Bayern has become is due to Gerd Mul- ler and his goals,” said Becken- bauer, who captained Germany to the 1974 World Cup win and coached the 1990-title winning team. Muller was the club’s top scorer every season from 1964- 65 to 1977-78, and the Bundes- liga’s leading marksman seven times. His collection of personal awards is as impressive as the titles Bayern won. At 21, he was voted German Player of the Year in 1967, then in 1970, he became the first German to be crowned European Footballer of the Year after winning the top scorer award at the Mexico 1970 World Cup. When his play- ing career ended after a three- year spell in the North Ameri- can League, Muller admits he descended into deep crisis and began drinking heavily. Bayern’s current president Uli Hoeness helped get him back on his feet by offering him a con- tract in 1992; initially to look af- ter sponsors, scout for talent and coach strikers and goalkeepers. He later became a youth coach and first team assistant. — AFP The German was the goal king of the 1970s, before battling alcoholism when he retired AP Goal bound ■■ The predatory Muller scoring the first of his two goals in West Germany’s 3-0 win over the USSR in the final of the European Championships in Brussels on June 18, 1972. Stunning set-piece 1 At Atletico Madrid in February Messi proved decisive for Barcelona as only he can. With the score locked at 1-1 with nine minutes remaining, Barcelona won a free-kick on the left-hand corner of the home side’s box. It looked an impossible angle from which to score, especially for a left- footer like Messi. But the little maestro, after a brief discus- sion with Xavi Hernandez, curled home an outlandish left-foot shot into the top right-hand corner of the net to the bewilderment of goal- keeper Thibaut Courtois. Audacious chip 2 In a record-breaking, virtuoso performance in March, Messi be- came the first player in Champions League history to score five goals in a match in Barcelona’s 7-1 thumping of Bayer Leverkusen. The sec- ond of his five goals was par- ticularly delightful; from the right-hand side of the box, running slightly away from goal, he produced a sublime right-foot chip over the Bayer goalkeeper Bernd Leno. International brilliance 3 Messi has often been criticised for not re- peating his club form for Argentina, but in June’s friendly against Brazil he was in scintillating form. He scored a hat-trick (his 12th treble for club and coun- try in the 2011-12 season) in his country’s 4-3 win. His third goal, with just six min- utes remaining, was simply sensational; Messi picked up the ball near the halfway line on the right flank, cut inside Real Madrid’s Marcelo then hurtled towards the Brazilian penalty area. He then let fly from just outside the D with his left foot, lashing a stun- ning shot into the top corner of the net. Fabulous free-kick 4 Messi showcased his prodigious deadball skills again when he put Barcelona 2-1 ahead against Real Madrid in a pulsating El Clasico encounter at the Nou Camp in October. He left goalkeeper Iker Casillas helpless by ar- rowing a perfectly flighted free-kick into the top right- hand corner of the net from 30 yards out. Messi had ear- lier come to his side’s rescue in time-honoured fashion by firing home Barca’s equaliser into the roof of the net from close range. Record-breaker 5 The goal that broke the record on Sunday was a typically ac- complished and memorable finish from Messi. Barcelona wing-back Adriano started the move, surging for- ward from deep and playing in Messi, who passed the ball to Andres Iniesta. The mid- field maestro then teed up Barcelona’s main man with a delightful backheel and Messi did the rest, delivering a crisp angled shot into the far corner of the net. E.R. Is he the best player in the world? Dubai Y esterday the world of football was marking 25-year-old Messi’s goal- scoring feat. Gulf News spoke to its readers for their reaction to his record-breaking achieve- ment in scoring 86 goals in a calendar year. Mazin Mohammad Saleh, a 22-year-old Sudanese student based in Sharjah and a Barcelo- na team supporter, hailed Messi as an outstanding player. How- ever, he believes credit should also go to his team’s midfielders. He said: “I believe that the midfielders, specifically [Andrés] Iniesta and Xavier [Hernandez], helped him beat this record.” Saleh believes that it is unlikely Messi’s record will be broken. “I don’t think anyone else will have Messi’s talent coupled with such a great team to sup- port him.” Omnia Adel Al Dahshouri, a 23-year-old administrative as- sistant and a die-hard football fan, said: “Messi really has an unmatched talent; his upper- body strength really enhances his performance as a player.” She, too, doubts his record will be beaten anytime soon. “He’s still very young and will be around for a long time. He’s not the best player in the world, but he is definitely one of the best.” Praveen Raj, was full of ad- miration for Messi. “Everything about him makes him such a great player; his talent and en- ergy and presence in the field. The only person who will ever beat this record will be himself. After [Diego] Maradona, Messi is definitely the best football player ever,” he said. Ehab Hassan, an American- Palestinian project co-ordinator based in Dubai, disagreed that Messi’s landmark goal tally would never be beaten. He feels that there will always be new and more talented players to challenge the mark. He said: “Every generation of footballers is built to be more competitive for a changing style of play. I’m pretty sure no one knew that Muller’s record would be broken before Messi came into play.” Hassan believes many factors make Messi an amazing player. “Thefactthathehasasmallbuild and is more agile than the others helps harbour his intense skill. You cannot forget that he plays withateamthatsupporthimand they too are full of talent.” — The writer is a trainee at Gulf News Gulf News readers give their views on Argentine breaking world record By Lameese Hajissa Special to Gulf News 5top goals 86goals netted by Messi in a calendar year — a record Untouchable 85goals achieved by Gerd Muller in one year in 1972 Der Bomber 75goals scored by the Brazilian great, Pele, in 1958 Legend LIONEL MESSI ■■ Birthdate: June 24, 1987 - age 25 ■■ Birthplace: Rosario, Argentina ■■ Height: 1.69m (5ft 7in) ■■ Club: Barcelona since 2004 ■■ Major club honours: Three Champions Leagues, five league titles in Spain, two Spanish Cups, two Super Cups, two Club World Cups ■■ International caps: 76 (31 goals) ■■ International honours: Olympic gold medal (2008) ■■ Individual honours: Three Ballons d’Or titles (2009, 2010, 2011) ■■ The man nicknamed La Pulga (the flea) has terrorised de- fences in La Liga and scored around a goal a game over the past three seasons — most of them spectacular. factfile 86 66GOALS GAMES IN 2012 When the goals have been scored Where the goals have been scored How the goals have been scored Breakdown of Messi’s career goals 14 12 60 56 72 86 12 5 2 3 13 La Liga Champions League Friendlies World Cup qualifiers Spanish Super Cup Copa del Rey 7 For Argentina For Barcelona 0-15 mins 4 18 14 11 16 23 15-30 mins 30-45 mins Penalties Outside penalty box Inside penalty box 4 Neutral 20112012 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 43 Home 39 Away 3 Head 8 Right foot 75 Left foot 45-60 mins 60-75 mins 75-90 mins 86 59 60 41 22 31 12 3 How the record was achieved HAVE YOUR SAY Photo gallery Call us Facebook SMS us Have your say BLOG Video Do you think Messi is the greatest football player in history? Of his 86 goals in 2012, which was your favourite? Post a comment on our Facebook page or email us at readers@gulfnews.com EPA Celebration time ■■ Barcelona striker Lionel Messi gestures after surpassing the record in the Spanish La Liga at Benito Villamarin Stadium in Seville on Sunday.