10 records that Lionel Messi could achieve in 2021
Along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi is considered one of the finest players to have graced the beautiful game.
One of the last vestiges of the true one-club man, Lionel Messi has played his entire club career with Barcelona, scoring numerous goals and winning accolades and titles along the way.
The all-time Barcelona and La Liga top-scorer has already reached a few landmarks this season, despite enduring one of his uncharacteristically underwhelming campaigns.
On that note, let's have a look at ten records that Lionel Messi could break or emulate before the year runs out.
Ten records that Lionel Messi could achieve this year
After becoming the all-time top-scorer for a single club earlier in the season, Lionel Messi could achieve a few more milestones for club and country in 2021.
Without further ado, let's have a look at ten of them, in no particular order.
#1 Become the first player to score 20 league goals in 13 successive campaigns
Lionel Messi is one of two players to have scored 20 league goals in 12 successive top-flight campaigns, the other being Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, the diminutive Argentine could become the first to do in 13 consecutive seasons if he scores another goal in the ongoing 2020-21 La Liga campaign.
The fewest league goals that he has managed during this period is the 23 he tallied in the 2008-09 season, while he amassed a record 50 just three seasons later.
#2 Second player to score 50 knockout-stage goals in the Champions League
Only Cristiano Ronaldo (67) has scored more than Lionel Messi (48) in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.
However, the second-most prolific scorer in competition history could emulate his arch-rival and arrive at the 50-goal mark if he scores at least a brace in Barcelona's Round-of-16 second leg game at PSG next week.
The Blaugrana trail the French champions 1-4 after a humbling reverse at home and will need their talismanic captain to engineer an improbable turnaround.
#3 Become the first player to score nine Champions League hat-tricks
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored a record eight hat-tricks apiece in the UEFA Champions League.
With Juventus playing their Round-of-16 second leg a day before Barcelona play theirs, Ronaldo could beat Messi to become the first player to score nine hat-tricks in the competition.
However, if the Portuguese player misses out, Lionel Messi could turn on the style in Paris and script another record in the competition.
#4 Win an eighth Pichichi award
Among many La Liga records carved out by the Argentine magician, Lionel Messi has the most Pichichi awards (top-scorer in a La Liga season) in the competition's history.
Last season, Lionel Messi broke a tie with Telmo Zarra (6) to claim this record all for himself.
Despite a slow start in the current campaign, the 33-year-old is leading the La Liga scoring charts with 19 strikes.
If he continues to do so at the end of the season, Lionel Messi would win a record-extending eighth Pichichi award and continue his four-year stranglehold of the coveted award.