Lionel Messi, for the second consecutive season, has scored 50 goals in all competitions for Barcelona, and it’s not mid-March yet. Grabbing a brace in the 2-0 win over Racing Santander, the win didn’t really help Barca catch up to Real Madrid and their 10 point lead at the top of the La Liga, but it did help keep a safe, two goal distance from Cristiano Ronaldo.

There are quite a few impressive numbers around the continent regarding goalscoring this season – Robin Van Persie has scored 25 league goals for Arsenal, 32 in all competitions. Mario Gomez is at 21 league goals and 30 in all competitions for Bayern, while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has 19 league goals and 34 in all competitions for Schalke.

Still, it’s not even close to Messi, with 30 league goals in 25 matches and 50 goals in 43 matches in all competitions. Cristiano Ronaldo is leading the chase for the Pichichi and the European top scorer once again, with 32 league goals in 26 matches and 40 in all competitions for Real.

Messi’s Champions League tally is the most impressive of all, after his five goal performance against Leverkusen last week. He has 12 goals this season in the competition, putting him at the age of 24 with 49 UCL goals, 17 away Raul. At this rate, he’ll be on top by the end of next season.

Does the individual competition with Ronaldo mean anything to both of them? More than they let us know by their words, that’s for sure. Both are highly competitive, and it’s impossible that the strive towards perfection and more goals, heading towards more records, isn’t part of their motivation, besides the team accolades.

And the final number to wrap around your head – Messi now has 230 goals in his Barcelona career, which means he will shortly be the team’s all-time leading goalscorer. He’s 24. His numbers during the Guardiola era? He has scored 188 goals  in 202 matches. The title haul during Pep’s run is more impressive, but these are out-of-this world numbers. Ronaldo has an equally impressive in his two and a half seasons with Real, scoring 126 goals in 127 matches.