The Road to 72

Photo Credit: tumblr.com

The accomplishments just keep piling up for Lionel Messi. Despite an unexpected elimination in the Champions League, Messi responded with 9 goals this week including 4 more today against Espanyol. Messi now has 50 in La Liga play, including 8 hat tricks, and 72 goals across all competitions this season for Barcelona. To put his 50 league goals in perspective, he has more goals than 13 entire teams in La Liga: Racing Santander, Sporting Gijon, Real Zaragoza, Villareal, Granada, Real Sociedad, Espanyol, Real Betis, Getafe, Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla FC, Osasuna and Mallorca.

Here's a look back at Messi's road to 72:

08/14/11 - 1 (1) - Super Cup vs Real Madrid (A)
08/17/11 - 2 (3) - Super Cup vs Real Madrid (H)
08/26/11 - 1 (4) - UEFA Super Cup vs FC Porto (H)
08/29/11 - 2 (6) - La Liga vs Villareal (H)
09/17/11 - 3 (9) - La Liga vs Osasuna (H)
09/24/11 - 3 (12) - La Liga vs Atlético Madrid (H)
09/28/11 - 2 (14) - UEFA Champions League vs BATE Borisov (A)
10/15/11 - 2 (16) - La Liga vs Racing Santander (H)
10/29/11 - 3 (19) - La Liga vs Mallorca (H)
11/01/11 - 3 (22) - UEFA Champions League vs Viktoria Plzen (A)
11/06/11 - 1 (23) - La Liga vs Athletic Bilbao (A)
11/19/11 - 1 (24) - La Liga vs Real Zaragoza (H)
11/23/11 - 1 (25) - UEFA Champions League vs AC Milan (A)
11/29/11 - 1 (26) - La Liga vs Rayo Vallecano (H)
12/03/11 - 1 (27) - La Liga vs Levante (H)
12/18/11 - 2 (29) - Club World Cup vs Santos FC (A)
01/04/12 - 2 (31) - Copa del Rey vs Osasuna (H)
01/15/12 - 2 (33) - La Liga vs Real Betis (H)
01/22/12 - 3 (36) - La Liga vs Málaga (A)
02/04/12 - 1 (37) - La Liga vs Real Sociedad (H)
02/14/12 - 1 (38) - UEFA Champions League vs Bayer Leverkusen (A)
02/19/12 - 4 (42) - La Liga vs Valencia (H)
02/26/12 - 1 (43) - La Liga vs Atlético Madrid (A)
03/07/12 - 5 (48) - UEFA Champions League vs Bayer Leverkusen (H)
03/11/12 - 2 (50) - La Liga vs Racing Santander (A)
03/17/12 - 1 (51) - La Liga vs Sevilla FC (A)
03/20/12 - 3 (54) - La Liga vs Grenada (H)
03/24/12 - 1 (55) - La Liga vs Mallorca (A)
03/31/12 - 1 (56) - La Liga vs Athletic Bilbao (H)
04/03/12 - 2 (58) - UEFA Champions League vs AC Milan (H)
04/07/12 - 2 (60) - La Liga vs Real Zaragoza (A)
04/10/12 - 1 (61) - La Liga vs Getafe (H)
04/14/12 - 2 (63) - La Liga vs Levante (A)
04/29/12 - 2 (65) - La Liga vs Rayo Vallecano (A)
05/02/12 - 3 (68) - La Liga vs Málaga (H)
05/05/12 - 4 (72) - La Liga vs Espanyol (H)

Photo Credit: daylife.com

By Month:

August - 6
September - 8
October - 5
November - 7
December - 3
January - 7
February - 7
March - 13
April - 9
May - 7

Messi and Barcelona have two games remaining on their slate. They're on the road against Real Betis in the regular season finale on May 13th and then they take on Athletic Bilbao in the Final of the Copa del Rey on May 25th.