As if the 2019-2020 Spanish La Liga season wasn’t memorable enough with the coronavirus stoppage, Lionel Messi made sure to grab a piece of the record books in the interrupted and then restarted campaign. Despite scoring his fewest league goals since the 2008-2009 season, Barcelona’s legendary star made up for it by assists 21 times, a new Spanish first division record.
The previous record was held by Messi’s former teammate Xavi, who tallied 20 assists in that 2008-2009 season, which ended in a historic treble for the Catalan giants:
✨ H I S T O R Y ✨
With 2⃣1⃣ assists, Messi overtakes Xavi as the player with MOST ASSISTS in a single #LaLigaSantander season! 🐐#AlavesBarça pic.twitter.com/Lrx84HI2cJ
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) July 19, 2020
With his 25 goals and 21 assists this season, Messi also became the first player in a top five European league to accomplish a fabled 20/20 season, joining Thierry Henry in 2002-2003. Perhaps more impressively, Messi also accomplished that accolade in just 33 league appearances; he had a late start to the season due to a calf injury that kept him out until the middle of September.
Though 25 goals was his lowest tally in over a decade, Messi should still walk away with his 7th top scorer title for Spain’s first division; Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema would need four goals in his team’s last game on Sunday to just tie Messi.
In all likelihood, what would be a career season for anyone else not named Cristiano Ronaldo will end up as slightly disappointed for Messi, depending on his club’s success in the Champions League. However, even with a letdown of a campaign, he has carved his name once again into the La Liga record books.
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