Football fans can argue until their blue in the face about what has been the greatest phase of Lionel Messi's career; Was it the three year spell of domestic and continental dominance between 2008 and 2011? Perhaps his regeneration alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez in 2014/15 or even his current incarnation which is hell bent on returning Barca back to the summit of Spanish and European football?
No matter which Messi is your favourite particular version, there is no debate as to which Messi was the most prolific - The 2012 vintage.
In a single calendar year, the five time Ballon d'Or winner found the back of the net a, quite frankly ridiculous, 91 times for club and country, beating the previous record held by German goal machine Gerd 'Der Bomber' Muller, who fired home 85 goals in 1972.
Gerd Muller helped himself to 85 goals for Bayern Munich and Germany, in 1972, winning a Bundesliga Title and European Championship along the way. He was given a miniature cannon for his efforts. Obviously. Image: PA
The first half of 2012 was not the most successful for Barcelona, despite Messi's regular heroics, with the Catalan giants surrendering the La Liga title to Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid for the first time under Pep Guardiola's stewardship, although the Blaugrana did capture the Copa Del Rey to avoid finishing the 2011/12 campaign empty handed before Guardiola departed to take his year-long sabbatical away from football.
As the 2012/13 season commenced, however, Messi simply picked up where he'd left off in May and continued relentlessly whacking footballs into the backs of whatever net was in front of him at the time, propelling Barca into the driver's seat in the La Liga title race, which they would comfortably win, the following year.
Luckily, some kind soul has compiled every single one of Messi's 2012 efforts into one handy five minute video. Enjoy:
Messi's remarkable goal haul came across just 69 official games (nice), which works out at the Rosario native scoring a goal every 66 minutes he was on a pitch in 2012.
Between 1st January and 31st December in 2012, Messi's 91 efforts were more than 13 different La Liga teams managed in 2011/12 season. Thirteen of his goals came in 12 Champions League matches, two came in Supercopa clashes, five came in eight Copa Del Rey appearances and the remaining 59 for Barca came in 38 La Liga games.
For Argentina meanwhile, the Carlton Banks sized genius casually helped himself to 12 goals in nine caps.
Will we ever see anything close to this again?
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Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Champions League, Argentina, La Liga