Before Lionel Messi, footballing records were shared across a wide variety of players. Gerd Muller had a few, Alfredo Di Stefano had a couple and Telmo Zarra even had some in his locker; but since La Pulga made his Barcelona debut in 2004, those records have been ruthlessly picked off.
The first real record that Messi broke was in becoming Barcelona's all-time record goalscorer at the tender age of just 24. The accolade, previously held by Cesar Rodriguez after his 13 year stint at the club, was bettered by the Argentinian in early March of the 2011/12 season with a comprehensive La Liga hat-trick against Granada.
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The record tally of 231 had stood for 57 years and taken Cesar until he was 35 to amass, but was broken by Messi after just seven years of first team football. The record currently stands at 453 goals in 531 games whilst Leo shows no signs of stopping.
That record was swiftly followed by the toppling of Gerd Muller's record for goals in a single season less than 45 days later. The 39-year record of 67 goals was smashed by the Argentinian, who accomplished the feat with a 29 minute hat-trick against Malaga.
Messi finished that season on 73 and the closest any other player has come since was Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2014-15 season; scoring 61 goals.
Fast forward seven months and Messi had broken another one of Muller's long standing records. With a brace against Athletic Bilbao on the 9th December, La Pulga equaled and then broke the German's 40-year old feat of 85 goals in a calendar year - finishing 2012 on 91 goals in all competitions.
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That achievement made him a shoe-in for the 2013 Ballon d'Or award, his reception of which was the destruction of another record. By winning the 2013 trophy awarded by FIFA, Messi became the first player in the history of football to be crowned the World's Best Player on four separate occasions - doing so in four consecutive seasons, too.
Previously, three different players had done so on three different occasions. Those players were Marco Van Basten, Michel Platini and a man who Lionel Messi and the people of Barcelona owe a debt of gratitude to; Johan Cruyff.
More than a year later, another long-standing record took a beating at the hands of the left-footed wizard. This time he was dislodging Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano to become the all-time top scorer in Clasicos, doing so with a hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-3 victory over their bitter title rivals to take his tally to 21 goals.
The hat-trick also took him past Hugo Sanchez into second on the list of all-time Liga top scorers, a record which he would break later in the same year with yet another hat-trick. After spending three goalless games just one goal behind Telmo Zarra's 54-year strong tally of 251 goals, the Argentine scored a treble against Sevilla to take the record - which now stands at a whopping 312 goals and is only going to get larger.
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Less than a month later, Messi broke another record with (you guessed it) ANOTHER hat-trick. This time around, it was to become the top scorer of the Derbi barceloní - breaking the record of 11 held by Cesar Rodgriguez to take his tally to 12.
Lionel's run of hat-tricks was going to earn him some sort of hat-trick record sooner or later and it came to fruition in February 2015, when La Pulga broke Telmo Zarra's long-standing record of 30 hat-tricks in Spanish football. His treble against Levante took him past that record, and he currently sits on 35 club hat-tricks.
The latest accolade Messi has earned and perhaps his most telling, was to break Gabriel Batistuta's record of top Argentina goalscorer that had stood since his 54th goal at the 2002 World Cup. Leo did so with a sublime free-kick against USA at the Copa America Centenario and firmly cemented his place in Argentine folklore.
Happy Birthday Lionel, keep creating history.
Before and After Lionel Messi.
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Words By: @joshuapsjones
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