Can Viktor Gyokeres break Lionel Messi’s mythical goal record?

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 20 Nov 2024 10:35 GMT
• 3 min read

Can Viktor Gyokeres break Lionel Messi’s mythical goal records for a calendar year or season?

This is a question that many football fans are asking after Gyokeres continued his sensational scoring run on Tuesday evening.

Gyokeres scored four goals for the Sweden national team as they thrashed Azerbaijan 6-0 in the UEFA Nations League.

That poker means that Gyokeres has a barely believable 32 goals in 2024/25 for club and country.

He is UEFA Nations League top scorer, joint top-scorer of the Champions League and top scorer of the Portuguese League. Just as a bonus he also has supplied seven assists.

Gyokeres also now has a sensational 58 goals in 54 games in 2024 for Sporting and Sweden.

Messi’s goal record

So can Gyokeres break Messi’s legendary goal records from the 2011-12 season and 2012 calendar year?

It seems unlikely.

In the 2011-12 season, Messi scored an incredible 82 goals from 69 games in all competitions for club and country.

And in the 2012 calendar year, Messi scored that almost mythical total of 91 goals for Barcelona and Argentina from just 69 games.

Gyokeres’ numbers are truly special but Messi’ record is surely a step too far even for him.

To break Messi’s record for the calendar year, Gyokeres would need to score 32 goals in the nine available matches before the end of 2024.

Mind you, if he scores at an average of four a game - like against Azerbaijan - Gyokeres will do it!

As for Messi’s seasonal record, Gyokeres needs to score 51 more goals between now and the end of the season from a maximum of 46 games. However, in order to play all of those 46 games, it would require Sporting to get to the final of all the cup competitions they play in, including the Champions League. It would also require Sporting to qualify but not finish in the top eight of the Champions League group phase, so that they play an extra two-legged playoff round in the competition.

To put it simply, Gyokeres will need to produce a miracle to surpass Messi!