What Lionel Messi is doing at the age of 31 is nothing short of remarkable.

It was thought that, at this point in his career, another player would have risen to knock Messi off his perch.

Kylian Mbappe has pushed the Barcelona star close in the race to win the European Golden Shoe this season but really, nobody can claim to be on his level.

Messi has scored 48 goals in all competitions for the Blaugrana and reached 600 career club goals with a brace against Liverpool on Wednesday.

The Barça forward has nothing left to prove in the game - most already consider him the greatest of all-time - and he’s only adding to a number of records he already owns.

They include most goals in La Liga history (417) and Barcelona’s all-time top goalscorer.

When all is said and done, Messi will have set a number of records that may never be broken.

Five more years of this Messi

And how long can he go on for? Well, we shouldn’t expect to say farewell to the little magician any time soon.

According to Pete Jenson of the Daily Mail, those who work with Messi believe he can carry on at the highest level for another five years.

“In terms of physique and style of play, there are similarities with Gianfranco Zola, who played for Chelsea until he was 36,” Jenson notes.

Messi turns 32 in June but he will be allowed to stay at Barcelona until he wants.

“He might even play until he’s 45, who knows?” Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said, per The Guardian.

“We know he’ll play three, four, five years more, we don’t know how many - as many as he wants.

“We’re preparing: players like [Ousmane] Dembele, [Clement] Lenglet, Arthur are there to build a team for when Messi stops playing, but I still see it as a long way off. I don’t think that day is near.

“And we tell the players who play and train with him: ‘Make the most of every minute.’”

The day Messi retires will be a very sad one.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like it will come any time soon.