Lionel Messi's Combined Goals And Assists Shows His Genius This Season

Lionel Messi might have had a disappointing return to international duty with Argentina after his side lost 3-1 to Venezuela in a friendly, but that's only a small blemish on his performances this season.

After all, the 31-year-old Barcelona captain's stats are miles ahead of the competition.

Football Galaxy has shown how impressive the Argentine magician has been when it comes to scoring and assisting.

For example, Messi's combined total for both of the aforementioned areas has reached 60 this season.

Wanna remove the penalties away from that stat?

Sure, but the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is still miles ahead of his fellow players.

In fact, removing the number of times that Messi has scored from the spot kick leaves him with a combined total of 55.

To top things off, the Argentina captain has scored and assisted 43 times in La Liga, which is collectively more than the 42 that Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappé has to his name.

If the Barça talisman's assists are removed, he has still scored 39 times this season.

That's more than the combined assists and goals that Cristiano Ronaldo has to his name, with him currently sitting on 36 for this campaign.

Manchester City's Raheem Sterling, who scored a hat-trick for England in their opening Euro 2020 qualifying match against the Czech Republic, is one behind the Juventus star and currently tied with teammate Sergio Agüero.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema has 30 and PSG's Neymar has 29.

Recently, Brazil legend Romário said that Ronaldo is "among the five best players in history," but he would prefer to have had the opportunity to play with Messi.

"If I had to choose one to play with, I would stay with Messi. He's more technically gifted, I'd rather see Leo than Cristiano," he explained.

Will anyone catch up to Messi in the race for the European Golden Shoe this season?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Paris Saint-Germain, Sergio Aguero, Football, Barcelona, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Juventus, Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, Raheem Sterling

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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