They’ve all tried. Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane — three of contemporary soccer’s most feared finishers — every had an opportunity to rewrite historical past in 2025. Their golf equipment, Manchester Metropolis, Actual Madrid, and Bayern Munich, rely upon them like few others. However whilst their streaks grew and their kind soared, considered one of Lionel Messi’s strongest and most spectacular information remained untouched. Greater than a decade after he set it, the mark nonetheless stands tall, unbroken, and unmatched.
The 2025-26 season has provided loads of fireworks — Haaland’s hat-tricks, Mbappe’s dominance in Madrid, and Kane’s ruthless kind in Bavaria. But when all three stumbled inside days of one another, the soccer world was reminded of 1 fact: Messi’s greatness exists on a distinct aircraft.
The Argentine has spent his twilight years persevering with to rewrite document books throughout continents, however considered one of his most exceptional feats has was a barrier even the very best of the following technology can’t climb. Again within the 2012-13 La Liga season, Lionel Messi didn’t simply dominate — he transcended the game. He scored in 21 consecutive league matches, the longest goalscoring streak within the historical past of Europe’s high divisions.
Throughout these 21 video games, Messi netted 33 instances and have become the primary participant ever to attain in opposition to each group in the identical marketing campaign. He completed the season with 46 league objectives, guiding Barcelona to 100 factors beneath Tito Vilanova. It was an period outlined by his complete mastery — 4 straight Ballons d’Or, 91 objectives in a single calendar 12 months, and a degree of consistency that turned elite soccer into a private playground.
To place it in perspective, the Premier League document for consecutive scoring video games stays 11, set by Jamie Vardy in 2015-16 — precisely half of Messi’s feat. The closest anybody has are available Europe was Gerd Muller, who scored in 16 straight Bundesliga matches over half a century in the past. Messi’s document sits alone, untouched and virtually untouchable.
When greatness meets its ceiling
Erling Haaland’s goalscoring streak of 12 video games ended abruptly when Manchester Metropolis fell 1-0 to Aston Villa — his twelfth consecutive match with a purpose coming to an finish in early October. “It was Metropolis’s first defeat since August 31,” reported BBC Sport, as Matty Money’s fierce strike proved decisive. Haaland even bundled the ball into the web late on, just for the purpose to be dominated out for offside. That miss didn’t simply finish his run — it ended any remaining hope that the Norwegian may contact Messi’s degree this marketing campaign.
In the meantime, Kylian Mbappe’s personal streak ended at 11 consecutive video games after he failed to attain in opposition to Juventus. The French famous person’s kind for Actual Madrid has been devastating —43 objectives in 44 appearances in 2025— however not even that consistency was sufficient to threaten Messi’s reign.
Then there’s Harry Kane, whose run of 10 straight scoring video games for Bayern Munich got here to an finish in a 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Regardless of firing 20 objectives in his first 13 matches, the Englishman fell quick, although his begin to the season has been described as “career-best” by German media. Three elite strikers. Three document chases. All ending the identical means.
