Messi finishes 2010s with 50+ goals in 9 out of 10 yrs, for a grand total of 579

Messi was on point in Barcelona's 4-1 victory against Alavés, ensuring that the Argentine star finishes the calender with another impressive scoring milestone.

Lionel Messi came close to ending the calendar year with less than fifty goals, something that has only happened once this decade in 2013 when he netted 45.

But with 20 minutes to go against Alavés at Camp Nou on Saturday, the Argentine superstar finally found the target, blasting his long-range effort into the corner to make it 3-1 to Barcelona.

Messi’s goal was the 50th of the year, meaning the 31-year-old striker has now scored more than 50 goals for club and country in nine of the last ten years. Although it was his second-lowest tally of the decade after the aforementioned 2013, and one less than the 51 he scored last year.

Messi’s highest tally came in 2012 when he scored a staggering 91 goals to shatter the Gerd Muller’s 85-goal record set in 1972. His second-highest tally came in 2010 when he scored 60.

Messi leads Pichichi table
With his goal against Alavés, Messi also looks likely to ends the year as LaLiga’s current top scorer in the race for the 2019/20 Pichichi (a trophy he has won seven times in the last decade), unless of course Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema manages to score more than one goal on Sunday against Bilbao.

The Barcelona forward now has 13 LaLiga goals this season, while Benzema is currently on one less with 12.