As Lionel Messi celebrates his 30th birthday, we pay tribute by coming up with a remarkable statistic or record for each of his years on this earth – we don't have to look too far!
1: First senior goal – on 1 May 2005 – came for Barcelona as a late substitute in a Liga game against Albacete; to the manner born, the 17-year-old chipped in impudently.
2: Second-highest scorer in European Cup history – group stage to final – with 94 goals.
3: Messi has hit 37 hat-tricks for Barcelona.
4: Number of UEFA Champions League winners' medals in his collection, together with eight Liga titles and five Copa del Reys.
5: Goals Messi scored against Bayer Leverkusen in one UEFA Champions League last-16 game in 2012 (a record shared with Luiz Adriano).
6: Messi found the net in six different club competitions in 2011, repeating the feat in 2015.
7: Most UEFA Champions League hat-tricks (a feat shared with Cristiano Ronaldo).
8: Consecutive seasons that he has notched 40 goals or more for Barcelona.
9: Goals short of 100 for Messi in the calendar year 2012, with a world record 91.
10: Messi wore the No19 shirt when he broke into the Barcelona team before inheriting the No10 in 2008 following Ronaldinho's departure.
11: Messi was nearly 11 when his grandmother died. She is the inspiration for his trademark celebration, looking up and pointing to the sky.
All Messi’s Champions League hat-tricks
12: Most goals scored for Argentina in a calendar year, 2012, a record he shares with Gabriel Batistuta.
13: Age at which he left his native Argentina to join Barcelona.
14: Number of goals Messi has struck at the Santiago Bernabéu, second only to the Camp Nou at club level.
15: Most Liga away matches with a goal in a single season (he also holds the record for home games, with 16).
16: Messi was 16 years, four months, and 23 days old when he made his Barça first-team debut in a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto; his 15-minute cameo saw him create two openings and have a shot himself.
17: Record number of goals registered in the Spanish Super Cup, across six different seasons.
Messi’s first UEFA Champions League goal
18: Age when Messi bagged his first UEFA Champions League goal, nervelessly lifting the ball over the keeper and firing in against Panathinaikos.
19: Messi is the only player to score consecutively against all 19 opposition teams in the Liga.
20: Messi has plundered 20+ goals against six opponents over the course of his career, including the rest of last season's Liga top six.
Ronaldo at 30 (from February 2015)
21: Longest goalscoring run in the Liga set in 2012/13, amassing 33 goals during that sequence of matches.
22: Age when he claimed the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards by record voting margins.
23: Goals scored in the Clásico, five more than Alfredo di Stéfano and seven more than Ronaldo.
2009 final highlights: Barcelona 2-0 Man. United
24: Age at which he became Barcelona's all-time top scorer.
25: Major finals he has contested over the years ...
26: ... and the number of goals he has struck in them.
27: Goals converted direct from a free-kick for the Blaugrana.
28: Messi became the youngest South American to reach 100 caps four days short of his 28th birthday.
29: Goals Messi has notched so far against favourite opponents Sevilla; on the European stage Arsenal have the unwanted honour (nine).
30: Years on the clock!
