The era of Lionel Messi: Argentine seals 10th title
The Barcelona captain is now the player with the most titles in the club's history
In 90 years of La Liga, not many players have been able to win 10 titles. In fact, only two people have done it. Paco Gente won 12 and Jose Martinez 'Pirri' won 10.
And now Lionel Messi has joined them, winning his 10th Spanish title and becoming the Barcelona player to have won the most La Liga crowns. Since his first triumpg in 2004-05, his debut season in the top flight, there have been 15 seasons and the numbers are clear: 10 leagues won and five seasons when he's been unable to lift it. In 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2017 he came up short, but in every other year, the Argentine has been a Spanish champion.
Messi began the season by becoming the most honoured player in Barça's history. The Spanish Super Cup was his 33rd trophy, taking him past the 32 won by Andres Iniesta. He is now on to 34 and has a Copa del Rey final to come against Valencia and, hopefully, a Champions League final at the Wanda.
Leo's first title was in 2004-05 as a teenager. He made his debut that season against Espanyol and then scored his first goal against Albacete before going on to win the league.
Since then, his growth has been incredible. In the time that has followed, he's become the league's all-time top scorer, topping Telmo Zarra's 251 during the 2014-15 season. No one has fiven more assists than him since records began, either, and he's won more games than anyone else to ever play in Spain's top flight (336).
Messi's scored in 37 different stadiums and against 37 different teams. He's the only player in history that's scored 25 goals or more in 10 consecutive league campaigns as well: 34 (2009-10), 31 (2010-11), 50 (2011-12), 46 (2012-13), 28 (2013-14), 43 (2014-15), 26 (2015-16), 37 (2016-17), 34 (2017-18) and, at the moment, 33 in the current season (2018-19).
At 31, 32 in June, Messi could still match Gento's 12 league titles. But for now he will have to settle for being the league's top scorer: 416 goals in 449 games.
It's likely that Messi's impact on the Spanish game won't be properly valued until he retires. He breaks records at a rate which means we become so used to them it's hard to really value them in the moment. The era in which he fought with Madrid's Critstiano Ronaldo was ecpecially compelling for the league.
Now, with Ronaldo no longer in Spain, Messi continues to shine. He is on route to his sixth Pichichi, which will draw him level with Zarra. And, next season, Leo can continue making history.
