11th December, 2012
Lionel Messi of Barcelona is not just enjoying his game at the moment, the Argentine star, who is breaking records is equally getting accolades from everyone who matters in football.
Only yesterday, Gerd Muller says he is “delighted” Messi has broken his record for goals scored in a calendar year, describing the Barcelona star as “the best player in the world”.
Messi scored a brace inside 25 minutes to break Muller’s record for goals in a calendar year. Messi netted his 86th goal of 2012 on Sunday evening in a 2-1 victory over Real Betis. That saw the Argentine surpass the tally set by Muller in 1972, earning the praise of the former West Germany international.
“My record stood for 40 years – 85 goals in 60 games – and now the best player in the world has broken it, and I’m delighted for him. He is an incredible player, gigantic,” Muller said.
Also, Cameroon international, Samuel Eto’o has labelled Messi a “god” and praised his grounded personality. Messi and Eto’o spent five years together at Barcelona between 2004 and 2009 and having formed a firm friendship with the Argentine off the pitch, the Cameroonian is desperate to see him add international honours to his trophy cabinet.
“Messi is a god, as a person and even more as a player,” Eto’o said. I hope that he wins the World Cup with Argentina. To the gods of the world, all I ask is that you give him that chance because I have seen him grow. I can only hope for the best because I have seen and know what a good boy he is.”
Arsenal Coach, Arsene Wenger also commented on the player, saying Messi is “mesmerizing”.
“Congratulations to Messi. He is just mesmerizing. What he is doing is unbelievable,” Wenger told the Arsenal website.
“Even with the biggest imagination, I would not have thought somebody would be capable of doing that. He makes it look so easy to score, and we are all tempted to say ‘let us walk on this pitch and score goals’, because it looks so easy when Messi does it.
“When you have played football, you know how difficult it is to score one goal. To think that one player can score 86 per year, if you think you play nine and a half months, it’s nearly 10 goals guaranteed per month. When you start the month, you know this boy will give you 10 goals, that is not bad,” Wenger concluded.
Messi may extend his record even further before the turn of the year, with the Blaugrana scheduled to play four more times before the start of 2013.