To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Lionel Messi's 91-Goal Year For Barcelona And Argentina Has Been 'Exposed'

Lionel Messi's 91-Goal Year For Barcelona And Argentina Has Been 'Exposed'

Lionel Messi scored a staggering 91 goals in one calendar year and yet one fan believes his achievement wasn't all that special.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

A fan has attempted to "expose" Lionel Messi's ridiculous 91-goal year, branding it "overrated" and claiming he wasn't "decisive in big games".

In 2012, a 25-year-old Messi scored 79 goals for Barcelona and 12 for Argentina in 69 games across one calendar year.

Messi broke the previous world record of 85 goals in a calendar year set by Germany and Bayern Munich striker Gerd Müller 40 years prior and picked up his fourth consecutive Ballon d'Or for his stellar performance over the annum.

He scored more goals than Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and Chelsea, in addition to registering 29 assists.

But @ZISPECIALONE_ reckons Messi's 2012 wasn't all that it was cracked up to be and made a number points trying to play down the Argentine's achievements.

For starters, the user believes Messi's tally of 13 goals in 12 Champions League outings - which included a five-goal masterclass against Bayer Leverkusen, shows that Messi was being carried by Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets.



They also pointed out that 78 of Messi's 91 goals were scored inside the box, which apparently means he was "a tap-in player" - while 14 penalties is deemed to be "stat-padding".

'ZI' raised question marks over the teams that Messi scored a hatful of goals against: Six against Bayer Leverkusen and four against Levante, Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano, Real Zaragoza, Real Betis and Espanyol.

Then there's the statement that Messi was in "Ronaldo's shadow" because he "disappeared" in El Clasico fixtures and couldn't stop Real Madrid from winning the league under Jose Mourinho.

In summary, the fan branded Messi's year "overrated" and said you could even argue that his Ballon d'Or win was not deserved.

Naturally, his thread has riled up a lot of people on social media, who have quite rightly dismissed it as nonsense.

The daftest take of all-time? It's certainly up there.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: FC Barcelona, Football, Lionel Messi, Ballon d'Or, Argentina