THREAD - Lionel Messi’s underrated record breaking 19/20 LaLiga season :

This season Messi became the only player in the 21st century to finish a season in a top 5 European league as the outright top scorer and top assister https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💥" title="Symbol für eine Kollision" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für eine Kollision">

Big chances created:

Messi: 36

Barca Midfield - Vidal + Busquets + Arthur + Roberto + Puig + FDJ + Rakitić: 24

Messi topped LaLiga in goals while creating 1.5x as many big chances as the entire Barca midfield combined https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Explodierender Kopf" aria-label="Emoji: Explodierender Kopf">

There’s been talk about Messi not performing vs the top half teams. In games he played vs top 10 sides, Messi was directly involved in 60% of Barcelona’s goals (12/20), more than:

Lewa https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇱" title="Flagge von Polen" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Polen">: 43%
Benzema https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇫🇷" title="Flagge von Frankreich" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Frankreich">: 42%
Ronaldo https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇵🇹" title="Flagge von Portugal" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Portugal">: 53%
Immobile https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇮🇹" title="Flagge von Italien" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Italien">: 55%
Müller https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇩🇪" title="Flagge von Deutschland" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Deutschland">: 40%

(Transfermarkt)

Messi’s direct goal involvements won Barca 31 points (38% of their total points and 43% of their points in games he played). No player in Europe won his team more points...

Though his finishing hasn’t been at the insane level of last season, he‘s still been one of the most efficient scorers in Europe. Messi had an expected goals of 20.85 and scored 25. He outperformed his xG by 4.15, more than Lewa (+2.8), CR7 (+1.57) and Benzema (-0.25) - Understat

How does he rank across all T5 leagues?

G/A: 46 (1st)
Goals: 25 (5th)
Assists: 21 (1st)
Pts won: 31 (1st)
Succ. Dribbles: 182 (2nd)
Big Chances Created: 36 (1st)
Avg rating: 8.71 (1st)
MOTM’s: 22 (1st)
G/A vs T6: 9 (2nd)
Fk Goals: 5 (1st)
OTB goals: 9 (1st)
Hat-tricks: 3 (1st)

Look at the incredible domination across all key offensive aspects within LaLiga. (I’ve added other leagues to show how ridiculous his monopolisation has been).

Despite all this, people have gone as far as saying that he’s had a “poor season.” No one in T5 League history has had as offensively complete a season as Messi in 19/20. And he’s done it all in a dysfunctional side with significant tumult within the club.

GOAT standards?