Having made a quick
recovery from the midweek injury that threatened to curtail his bid, the
Barcelona soccer star drew level with the German after 16 minutes of
the Spanish league match against Real Betis.
A mere nine minutes
later, the 25-year-old added another accolade to his collection as he
put Barcelona 2-0 ahead to surpass Muller's 1972 milestone with a
possible three more matches to play in 2012.
Fifth-placed Betis hit
back before halftime through Ruben Castro, but could not prevent
unbeaten league leaders Barcelona from registering a 14th win from 15
matches to
extend the club's record start to the season.
"I've said it a lot --
it's nice to beat records but the win for the team is what is important
and the points difference at the top," Messi told reporters after Barca
retained a six-point lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid.
Messi's next challenge is
to become the first man to win the world player of the year award four
times, as he heads the shortlist for January's ceremony along with
clubmate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
"If Iniesta wins, it will
be well-deserved for all that he has done, for the way he plays. Again,
it will also be a prize for the dressing room," Messi said of the Spain
midfielder, who beat him to last season's top European award.
He is already Barcelona's
alltime leading scorer, having in March surpassed the 232 goal mark set
by Cesar Rodriguez in the 1950s.
Last season he scored a
record 50 goals in La Liga, and he already has 23 this term. Of his 86
for 2012, 74 have been for Barcelona and 12 for his country.
The world has yet to see
the best of Messi on the international stage, as he has yet to win a
senior title with Argentina -- and that is the challenge he next faces
if is to be known as a true great, according to British football journalist Henry Winter.
"Pele did it for Brazil
and Maradona for Argentina. In the 2014 World Cup on Brazilian soil
it'll be wonderful to see Messi show the world what a special, special
player he is," Winter told CNN on Sunday.
"They say top players
hit their peak at 27 or 28 when they have the maturity and the game
craft and still the athleticism of youth. I think we'll see a player
like Messi who's very humble, very grounded, continuing to work and
develop with the great Barcelona players he's got around him, like Xavi
and Iniesta.
"He'll be the first to pay tribute to his teammates as well, because they are important."
Winter paid tribute to the humility Messi, who became a father for the first time last month.
"He's a fantastic role model, not just for his club but for football generally," Winter said.
"He doesn't cheat -- he
gets whacked by some serious tackles, but he's strong mentally
physically -- even though he's not the tallest or most imposing of
individuals.
"He just keeps going
because he's got this great lust for goals, for scoring, for setting up
his teammates. He's the ultimate team player, an ambassador on and off
the pitch."
Messi's exploits came
after it appeared he might be upstaged by Atletico Madrid's freescoring
Radamel Falcao, who became the first player in more than a decade to net
five times in a La Liga match.
The Colombia
international took his league tally to 16 this season as second-placed
Atletico kept the pressure on leaders Barca with a 6-0 thrashing of
bottom team Deportivo La Coruna.
Falcao joined Ronaldo on 13 goals with a first-half double, then completed his hat-trick with a penalty after being fouled.
He added two more to
seal Atletico's eighth successive home win and guarantee that
speculation about his future will intensify ahead of the January
transfer window, with some of the world's biggest clubs interested in
signing the 26-year-old former Porto player.
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