76 (and counting) reasons why Messi could be better than Pele...

The swish of a left boot, a helpless goalkeeper getting neck ache as he watches the ball arc over his head, goal for Lionel Andres Messi. Check it out on YouTube. May 1, 2005 is the date and Albacete are the opponents. A baby-faced Argentine magician, aged 17 years, 10 months and seven days, becomes the youngest Barcelona player in history to score a league goal. As Messi bounced in celebration with cheeky provider Ronaldinho, who could have guessed that the first would lead to a flood and then a torrent?

With each strike another record tumbles, which is not reassuring news for Saudi Arabia goalkeepr Waleed Abdullah after Messi grabbed his 75th and 76th goals of 2012 in Sunday’s 4-2 La Liga win over Mallorca. Messi, 25, has nine games left to net 10 goals and score more in a calendar year than anyone in history, starting on Wednesday in Riyadh when Argentina take on Saudi Arabia. His run of form reads 15 goals in 11 matches, which suggests it is only a matter of when, not if, Messi breaks the record. Sunday’s double against Mallorca took Messi past Pele, who scored 75 goals in 53 matches in 1958 for Santos and Brazil. It also puts German legend Gerd Muller within his sights. The stocky forward hit 85 goals for Bayern Munich and West Germany in 1972. Messi has already surpassed Muller in terms of goals per season. In the 2011-12 campaign he scored 73, breaking the European club record set in 1972-73. In March he passed Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year-old milestone of 232 goals to become Barca’s all-time leading scorer. He also scored a European Cup record-equalling 14 goals in the Champions League, netting a best of five goals in one game. Last week he was presented with his second Golden Boot award and he is again favourite to win the Ballon D’Or for the fourth successive year. ‘Leo’s records are spectacular,’ admitted Barcelona’s Tito Vilanova in what has to go down as one of the more obvious managerial pronouncements. ‘It’s spectacular when you think that he scores so many goals. Few players reach these numbers in seven or eight seasons.