Many people tend to forget the staggering number of goals Lionel Messi scored with FC Barcelona, and while players like Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski have performed at a high level, it’s nearly impossible for them to replicate one of the greatest seasons ever recorded by a footballer.

Recently, Raphinha became the first player to reach 50 goal contributions—between goals and assists—since the days of Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suárez. That milestone brought back memories of Messi’s best season during his time with the Blaugrana.

Lionel Messi’s best season with Barcelona

It was the 2011–2012 campaign when Lionel Messi dazzled the world with a total of 73 goals across all competitions. He scored 50 of them in LaLiga alone, beating Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi Trophy by four goals.

It was a different era—two footballing titans competing at the highest level.

In the Champions League, Messi netted 14 goals, although Barcelona fell in the semifinals that season.

To put things into perspective: Raphinha would need to score 20 more LaLiga goals to match Messi’s league total from that season—and to reach his overall tally, he’d need to score 43 more goals!

As for Robert Lewandowski, he’s currently 25 goals shy of Messi’s LaLiga total from that campaign and 30 behind his overall goal count.

It’s easy to forget that these numbers are real—not made up or exaggerated. Lionel Messi was truly a goal-scoring machine, and while we marvel at the stats delivered by today’s top players, they still fall far short of those standards.

There’s still a portion of the season left to play, but realistically, it seems nearly impossible for any player to match Messi’s numbers. In fact, it may be a long time before we see anything remotely similar again.