🇦🇷🐐 Messi in numbers

On 6 October Lionel Messi played his last game for Argentina, a 3-0 friendly against Benin at the Monumental. He set up two goals and scored a penalty. I think he’s the best player there has ever been, and this post is the numbers behind that.

He has 932 official goals and 426 assists in 1,178 games for club and country¹. That’s a goal or an assist every 71 minutes for twenty-one years. Nobody has more assists, and nobody has more non-penalty goals (817).

scorer and playmaker

Great attackers usually do one of two things. Lewandowski, Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo score a lot and set up a little. De Bruyne, Özil and Thomas Müller set up a lot and score a little. Put the best players of the last few decades on a chart of goals against assists and they form two groups, with an empty corner at the top right.

Two views of goals against assists for the greats, switched with buttons. The first is non-penalty goals per 90 against assists per 90 in Europe's top five leagues for 33 great attackers and playmakers, over their whole careers there. Scorers sit at the bottom right: Mbappé 0.83 and 0.29, Haaland 0.82 and 0.21, Lewandowski 0.76 and 0.17, Cristiano Ronaldo 0.70 and 0.24. Creators sit at the top left: De Bruyne 0.28 and 0.48, Thomas Müller 0.34 and 0.44, Özil 0.20 and 0.40. Neymar is between at 0.55 and 0.39. Messi is alone in the top right at 0.83 non-penalty goals and 0.42 assists per 90: Mbappé's scoring rate and almost De Bruyne's assist rate. The second view is goals and assists per game over whole club careers for 38 players, which adds older players: Gerd Müller scores 0.93 a game with 0.18 assists, Cruyff 0.57 with 0.43, and Messi 0.83 with 0.41, the highest combined rate. Eusébio (1.01), Pelé (0.94), Romário, Batistuta and Maradona have goals but no assist data.

fig 1Messi scores like the best scorers and assists like the best playmakers, at the same time, in both views. Hover or tap a dot for the numbers. Per 90: top-five leagues, every season each player played there². Whole careers: club totals per game³; hollow dots played much of their career before 1999, when assists were barely recorded.

Messi sits in that corner on his own. Over his career in Europe’s top five leagues he averaged 0.83 non-penalty goals and 0.42 assists per 90². Mbappé scores as often and sets up a third less. De Bruyne sets up slightly more and scores a third as often. Between 2009 and 2021, when most of these players overlap, Messi’s combined rate was 1.37 per 90 and the next best was Ronaldo’s 1.09.

Switch to whole careers and the old greats come in. Gerd Müller, Pelé and Eusébio scored more often, and Cruyff set up a little more often. Messi scored at close to their rate and set up goals at Cruyff’s.

the best seasons

In 2011-12 he scored 73 goals and made 32 assists in 60 games³. Among 33 other greats in the same data, the best season anyone had was Cristiano Ronaldo’s 84 in 2014-15. Messi’s 105 and his second-best season, 89, are both higher.

Goals plus assists in every club season with at least 20, for 16 great players. Messi's best seasons are 105 (2011-12), 89 (2014-15), 80 (2010-11), 77, 74 and 73. The best season by anyone else is Cristiano Ronaldo's 84 (2014-15), then Suárez 83 (2015-16), Gerd Müller 75 (1972-73), Ibrahimović and Cruyff 70, Kane 68, and Lewandowski, Neymar and Mbappé 65. Messi has six seasons of 70 or more; Ronaldo has three, Suárez and Gerd Müller two.

fig 2Two of Messi's seasons are higher than anyone else's best, and he has six seasons above 70, twice as many as Ronaldo. All club competitions, finished seasons only³. * mostly before 1999, assists incomplete.

Every season of every one of those players, on one chart:

A scatter of goals against assists for every club season with at least 10 goals and assists, for 31 great players, 491 seasons. Most seasons sit below 40 goals and 20 assists. The furthest out are Messi's 2011-12 (73 goals, 32 assists), 2014-15 (58 and 31) and 2010-11 (53 and 27). The best seasons of others are Gerd Müller 1972-73 (66 goals, 9 assists), Cristiano Ronaldo 2014-15 (61 and 23) and Suárez 2015-16 (59 and 24). Messi's seasons are the only ones with both 50+ goals and 25+ assists.

fig 3Other greats had seasons with as many goals, but none with the assists on top. Hover or tap a dot for the season³. Hollow dots are seasons before 1999.

His seasons are the only ones in the set with 50 goals and 25 assists. Per 90 minutes, which takes the extra cup games out, his best league season was 2012-13 at 1.80 non-penalty goals and assists per 90, ahead of Ibrahimović’s 1.62 and Ronaldo’s 1.57, and five of the ten best seasons since 2009 are his².

The calendar year 2012 gave him 91 goals, 79 for Barcelona and 12 for Argentina, beating the 85 Gerd Müller scored in 1972¹⁹.

every age

A forward’s output usually peaks in his late twenties. The median forward in Europe’s top five leagues tops out at 0.43 non-penalty goals and assists per 90, at 28⁴.

Goals plus assists per 90 minutes at each age from 18 to 39, in all official club and country games. The rate climbs from 0.79 at 18 to 1.67 at 24, stays between 1.2 and 1.5 through his twenties and early thirties, dips to 1.01 and 0.96 at 33 and 34 (his last Barcelona season and first PSG season), and rises again in Miami to 1.48 at 36 and 1.70 at 38. Without penalties the line sits about 0.1 lower. A dashed line at 0.43 marks the median Big-5 forward at peak age.

fig 4From 21 to 39 his rate dropped below 1.0 once, at 34. Without penalties it never fell below 0.85, about twice the median forward's best. All official club and country games, by age¹; age 39 runs to 7 October 2026. Median forward from StatsBomb's age-curve study⁴.

From 2010-11 to 2019-20 he averaged 1.42 non-penalty goals and assists per 90 in La Liga. Ryan O’Hanlon looked for anyone else who had reached that for a single season in the top five leagues since 2010, and found six seasons by six players⁵.

Non-penalty goals plus assists per 90: Messi's ten-year La Liga average of 1.42, against Mbappé 1.24, Cristiano Ronaldo 1.13, Sancho 1.06 and Suárez 1.06 over the same kind of span. Below it, the only seasons by anyone else since 2010 that reached 1.42: Higuaín 2011-12, Ronaldo 2014-15, Ibrahimović 2015-16, Suárez 2015-16, Bale 2015-16 and Mbappé 2018-19.

fig 5Six players had one season at the level Messi averaged for ten years. La Liga, 2010-11 to 2019-20⁵.

chances created

Assists depend on a teammate finishing the chance. Big chances created count the pass whether or not it goes in, so they measure the creating directly. Messi leads the top five leagues with 258, ahead of De Bruyne’s 229¹⁴, and he stopped adding to that in 2023.

Big chances created in Europe's top five leagues. Career: Messi 258, De Bruyne 229, Thomas Müller 171, Salah 164, Di María 162, Bruno Fernandes 155, Griezmann 135, Neymar 132. Best single seasons since 2015-16: Messi 37 (2015-16), 36 (2019-20) and 34 (2018-19), then De Bruyne, Dimarco and Bruno Fernandes on 33, and Di María and Olise on 32.

fig 6The three best single seasons are all his, and he still leads the career table three years after leaving Europe. Top-five leagues; coverage is reliable from 2015-16^14,15.

His 37 big chances in 2015-16 are still the record for a season, and his 36 in 2019-20 and 34 in 2018-19 are second and third¹⁵. At the World Cup he created 99 chances, the most since records began in 1966, with Maradona next on 71¹⁶.

Where those passes came from²⁵:

A full pitch, attacking to the right, with the starting point of every key pass Messi made in La Liga from 2004-05 to 2020-21: 1,061 passes that led to a shot, 186 of them assists. In the assists view each assist is drawn as a line from where he passed to where the ball was received. 61% of his assists started on the right half of the pitch, his side, and 73% started outside the box.

fig 7Most of his assists start from the right half-space, outside the box, which is where he played from his twenties on. Data: StatsBomb²⁵. A key pass is a pass followed by a shot. Switch between assists and all key passes.

61% of his La Liga assists started on the right of the pitch and 73% started outside the box.

the dribbler

Opta has counted completed dribbles in the top five leagues since 2006-07. By October 2023 Messi had 2,358 and Eden Hazard was second with 1,285⁶.

Most completed dribbles in Europe's top five leagues from 2006-07 to October 2023: Lionel Messi 2,358, Eden Hazard 1,285, Franck Ribéry 1,061, Neymar 984, Wilfried Zaha 972, Cristiano Ronaldo 937. Messi's total is 1,073 above second place.

fig 8The gap between first and second is bigger than Ronaldo's whole total. Top-five leagues, 2006-07 to October 2023⁶.

Season by season, he was the top dribbler in Europe in seven of the twelve seasons from 2009-10 to 2020-21^7,1.

The player with the most successful dribbles in Europe's top five leagues each season from 2009-10 to 2020-21. Messi led in 2009-10 (202), 2010-11 (265), 2011-12 (220), 2014-15 (266), 2017-18 (222), 2019-20 (239) and 2020-21 (188). In 2012-13 Messi had 143 and nobody passed 160, but the season's leader isn't published. Hazard led in 2013-14 (174, Messi second with 167) and 2018-19 (170, Messi second with 169). Neymar led in 2015-16 (189) and 2016-17 (218), when Messi had 151 and 154 and his place is unknown. Messi led again in 2017-18, the season after Neymar left for PSG.

fig 9Messi was first in seven of these twelve seasons and second in two more. The two Neymar led were Neymar's last two seasons at Barcelona. League and Champions League^7,1. A season missing from the top-20 list had nobody above 160.

2012-13 is his lowest total in that run, at 143. Then, after his best season in 2014-15, he falls out of the top 20 for two years with 151 and 154. Those were Neymar’s last two years at Barcelona, when Neymar took on more of the dribbling and Messi dropped deeper to play as a playmaker. In 2017-18, the first season after Neymar left, Messi was first again.

Per 90 minutes he led Europe in 2010-11 with 5.9 completed dribbles⁸, and as a teenager he completed 7.4, 7.1 and 8.4 per 90 in 2005-06 to 2007-08⁹. Over 2012 to 2023 the Analyst ranks him 13th per 90¹⁰, but that table needs only 1,000 minutes, so a winger with two good seasons sits above a player averaged over eleven, PSG years included. Adama Traoré, who is above him on it, often played fewer minutes per season, which is why he topped a season’s total only in the league-only count.

The run past four or five players that ends in a goal shows up in almost every season of his career. Getafe in 2007, Real Madrid in the 2011 Champions League semi-final, Athletic Club in the 2015 Copa del Rey final, and at 38, in July 2025, a run from halfway past four Montréal defenders¹¹.

Lamine Yamal is the volume leader now, with 223 completed dribbles in 2024-25¹², and he’s still below Messi’s teenage rate.

finishing

Over 16 La Liga seasons Messi took 2,162 shots worth 339.6 expected goals and scored 444, about 104 more than an average finisher would have from the same chances¹³. Since 2008 he scored 108.6 more league goals than expected, and the next player was Gonzalo Higuaín at 58.1⁵.

Where the goals came from²⁵:

A half pitch with the location of all 412 non-penalty goals Messi scored in La Liga from 2004-05 to 2020-21. 324 came from inside the box and 88 from outside it, 49 in open play and 39 from direct free kicks. 87 of the 88 from outside the box were scored with his left foot.

fig 1088 goals from outside the box, and 87 of them with his left foot. Data: StatsBomb²⁵. Faded dots are goals from inside the box; rings are free kicks.

88 of his 412 non-penalty La Liga goals came from outside the box, and 87 of those 88 were left-footed.

Two bar pairs. La Liga, 16 seasons and 2,162 shots: 339.6 expected goals against 444 goals scored, 104 above the model. League goals above expected since 2008: Messi +108.6, Gonzalo Higuaín +58.1, the next best.

fig 11Messi beat the expected-goals model by almost twice as much as the next best finisher. La Liga¹³; domestic leagues since 2008⁵.

free kicks

He has 76 direct free-kick goals, second all-time¹. The only player ahead is Marcelinho Carioca with 78, nearly all of them in Brazil. Marcelinho’s time in Europe’s big leagues was five La Liga games for Valencia and ten Ligue 1 games for Ajaccio¹⁷.

Most direct free-kick goals in history: Marcelinho Carioca 78, Lionel Messi 76, Jair Rosa Pinto 74, Roberto Dinamite 73, Siniša Mihajlović 72, Juninho Pernambucano 72, Marcos Assunção 68, Jorge Aravena 65, Cristiano Ronaldo 64, Zico 62, Ronaldinho 59, Maradona 59, Beckham 53.

fig 12Messi is two behind the record and twelve ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. Official top-division and international games¹.

In La Liga, where every free kick is recorded²⁵, he took 420 direct free kicks and scored 39, a La Liga record, which is 9.3% of them. He got better at it as he got older. From 2009-10 to 2016-17, aged 22 to 29, he scored about one in thirteen. From 2017-18 to 2019-20, aged 30 to 32, he scored 17 from 132, about one in eight.

A half pitch with every direct free kick Messi took in La Liga from 2004-05 to 2020-21: 420 attempts, 39 goals, 9.3%. The goals came from 19 to 33 yards out, 26 yards on average, and 29 of the 39 from right of centre. A small chart shows the share scored each season, rising from about 7% around 2010 to 12.5% in 2017-18 and 14.6% in 2018-19.

fig 13420 free kicks and 39 goals, 29 of them from right of centre. His best seasons came last. Data: StatsBomb²⁵. Green dots are goals; the bars show the share scored each season, green where it was 12% or more.

at 39

Most players his age have retired. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 25 Saudi league goals at 39 and 40, and Ibrahimović was the oldest player to score 15 in a Serie A season, at 39. Messi, at 39, has 21 MLS goals and 13 assists this season, first in goals and joint first in assists²⁴, and 36 goals and 19 assists in 41 games for club and country in 2026.

American Soccer Analysis publishes a model called goals added, which values every pass, dribble, shot and tackle by how much it changes the chance of a goal. I pulled every MLS player-season since 2013 with at least 1,500 minutes from its open API, 3,649 of them¹⁸.

A histogram of goals added per 96 minutes for 3,649 MLS player-seasons from 2013 to 2026 with at least 1,500 minutes. Most seasons sit between -0.1 and 0.1, with 0 being league average. The best seasons by anyone else are Carlos Vela 2019 at 0.338 and Zlatan Ibrahimović 2019 at 0.327. Messi's three seasons sit further out: 0.377 in 2024, 0.443 in 2026 so far and 0.501 in 2025.

fig 14Messi's three MLS seasons are the three highest in the league's goals-added history. Every MLS player-season since 2013 with 1,500+ minutes¹⁸; 2025 appears to include the playoffs and 2026 is in progress.

His 2025 total of 17.35 goals added is the highest season in the league’s data, ahead of Carlos Vela’s 11.21 in 2019. Most of it came from passing and dribbling. MLS is a weaker league than La Liga, but in 2025 he was about five standard deviations above its attacking players.

the world cup

He played six World Cups and 34 matches, more than anyone. At the 2026 tournament, aged 38 and 39, he scored 8 goals and made 4 assists in 8 games. He scored a hat-trick against Algeria at 38 years and 357 days, the oldest in World Cup history, and became the first player to start three World Cup finals²⁰.

Spain won the final 1-0 in extra time. Kylian Mbappé had scored twice in the third-place match the day before to reach 22 World Cup goals, so Messi finished second on 21. He holds the records for World Cup assists (12) and goal contributions (33)¹⁶, matches won (23) and matches as captain (27).

On 31 August he announced he would stop playing for Argentina. He ends with 208 caps, 126 goals and 67 assists, all three of them Argentina records²².

ronaldo and the others

Ronaldo has more goals, 979 to 932, more Champions League goals and more international goals. Messi has more non-penalty goals, more assists, more Ballon d’Ors and a better scoring rate.

Messi against Cristiano Ronaldo on nine measures: goals 932 to 979, non-penalty goals 817 to 795, assists 426 to 261, goals per game 0.79 to 0.73, Ballon d'Or 8 to 5, Champions League goals 129 to 140, international goals 126 to 146, World Cup goals 21 to 10, direct free-kick goals 76 to 64.

fig 15Ronaldo leads on totals in the competitions he played longest. Messi leads on rate and on creating. Official senior matches¹.

At 39 Messi had 916 goals and 414 assists to Ronaldo’s 873 and 249 at the same age, a goal involvement every 71.5 minutes against 87.4²¹. Ronaldo won league titles in four countries and five Champions Leagues, and he’s still scoring in a top flight at 41.

Pelé scored 775 official goals in 840 games and won three World Cups. Maradona was directly involved in 10 of Argentina’s 14 goals at the 1986 World Cup. Neither has the assist or event data that would let them sit on the charts above. FourFourTwo’s ranking and The Athletic’s Soccer 100, both from 2025, put Messi first²³.

the records

Records he shares are marked, and so are the ones he held and lost. Up to date as of 9 October 2026²².

Awards

8 Ballon d’Or awards, the most ever, and the only player to win four in a row (2009 to 2012). He’s also the only winner in three different decades.
3 The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards, the most, and 8 FIFA world player awards across all its formats.
2 World Cup Golden Balls (2014, 2022), the only player with two. The 2022 one made him the oldest winner, at 35. He took the Silver Ball in 2026.
2 Club World Cup Golden Balls (2009, 2011), also the only player with two.
6 European Golden Shoes, the most, and the only player to win three in a row (2017 to 2019).
8 Pichichi trophies as La Liga’s top scorer, the most.
17 selections in the FIFPRO World 11, the most.
2 Laureus Sportsman of the Year awards (2020, 2023), the only footballer to win it.
2 MLS MVP awards (2024, 2025), the first player to win it in back-to-back years.

Goals and assists, all-time

Most official assists: 426.
Most official goal contributions: 1,358.
Most official non-penalty goals: 817.
Most goals for a single club: 672 for Barcelona, passing Pelé’s 643 for Santos.
Most assists for a single club: 269 for Barcelona.
Most goals in a calendar year: 91 in 2012 (79 for Barcelona, 12 for Argentina).
Most club goals in a season: 73 in 2011-12.
Most goals in Europe’s top five leagues: 496.
Most goals in a single league: 474 in La Liga.
Most goals in finals: 36.
Most goals in FIFA competitions: 33.
Most international assists by a man: 67.
Most team trophies won: 47 or 48, depending on how youth titles are counted.

Consistency

13 consecutive seasons with 30 or more club goals.
10 consecutive seasons with 40 or more club goals.
The only player with 60 or more club goals in two consecutive seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13).
13 consecutive La Liga seasons with 20 or more goals.
15 consecutive La Liga seasons with 10 or more goals.

World Cup

Most matches: 34. Most as captain: 27. Most wins: 23.
Most assists: 12, and most in knockout games: 10 (records since 1966).
Most goal contributions: 33.
Most chances created: 99.
Most consecutive matches scored in: 9.
Most consecutive matches with a goal or assist: 11.
An assist at all six of his World Cups.
The first player to score in all five rounds of one World Cup (2022).
The only player to score at a World Cup as a teenager, in his twenties and in his thirties.
Oldest World Cup hat-trick: 38 years, 357 days (2026).
Oldest outfield player in a World Cup semi-final (39 years, 21 days) and final (2026).
The first player to start three World Cup finals. Three final appearances in total is shared with Cafu.
Shared: six World Cups played, with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Shared: 8 goals at one World Cup for Argentina, level with Guillermo Stábile in 1930.
Held and lost: the all-time World Cup scoring record, from his 17th goal in June 2026 until Mbappé’s 22nd in July.

Argentina and the Copa América

Most caps (208), goals (126) and assists (67) for Argentina, and the most caps and goals by a South American man.
Most goals for Argentina in a calendar year: 18 (2022). Most in one game: 5, against Estonia.
Most South American World Cup qualifying goals (36) and appearances (72).
Most Copa América appearances (39), assists (18), finals (5) and wins (25).
The only player to win the best-player award at every major tournament he played: the 2005 U-20 World Cup, the 2014 and 2022 World Cups, and the 2015 and 2021 Copa Américas.

Champions League

Most Champions League goals for one club: 120 for Barcelona.
Most round-of-16 goals: 29.
Most goals in a quarter-final match: 4, against Arsenal in 2010.
The first player with two Champions League hat-tricks in one season (2011-12).
Most Champions League player-of-the-match awards: 67.
Shared: most Champions League hat-tricks, 8, with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Shared: most goals in a Champions League match, 5, against Leverkusen in 2012. He was the first, and Luiz Adriano and Haaland have since matched it.
Shared: 18 consecutive Champions League seasons with a goal, with Karim Benzema.

La Liga

Most goals (474), assists (192 or 193 depending on the source) and hat-tricks (36).
Most goals in a season: 50 (2011-12). Most assists in a season: 21 (2019-20).
Most hat-tricks in a season: 8 (2011-12).
Most consecutive games scored in: 21, which included scoring against all 19 opponents in a row.
Most direct free-kick goals: 39.
Most appearances by a foreign player: 520.
The only player to finish as La Liga’s top scorer and top assister in the same season, three seasons running.

Barcelona

Most goals (672), assists (269), appearances (778), wins (542), hat-tricks (48) and trophies (35).
Most goals in El Clásico, for either side: 26. Most assists in El Clásico: 14.

MLS and Inter Miami

Most assists in an MLS game: 5, and most goal contributions in one: 6, against the New York Red Bulls in 2024.
Most goal contributions in one MLS playoff run: 15 (2025).
The fastest to 100 regular-season goal contributions: 64 games.
The first player with 18 goals and 18 assists in one regular season (2025).
Leagues Cup all-time top scorer: 14 goals.
Inter Miami’s all-time top scorer (102) and assister (56). He is the all-time leader in both for three teams: Barcelona, Argentina and Inter Miami.

sources