Lionel Messi has broken so many records in his illustrious career that it's becoming hard to keep count.

Key the Barcelona superstar's name into any search engine and you'll be up to your knees in world records, La Liga history books, Ballon d'Or trophies and bordering on 1,000 goal contributions.

We all know that Messi scored 91 goals during 2012 alone, went on a bonkers 21-game scoring streak in La Liga and holds the title of El Clasico's greatest ever scorer with 26 goals against Real Madrid.

You know you're an athlete of unimaginable talent when staggering records like those are, well, high-profile statistics that football fans aren't even shocked by anymore.

That, and the fact constant comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo means supporters and ourselves too are sometimes guilty of getting bogged down in the debate as opposed to celebrating them both separately.

Messi's abundance of records

But if there has been any positive for Messi from the break in football caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it's that fans have gained new areas of appreciation for him through throwback content.

Whether we like it or not, both Messi and Ronaldo are creeping deeper and deeper into their thirties, so we may only have a few seasons left to watch them in the professional game.

So, it feels apt that this week some of Messi's most under-appreciated records have been put under the spotlight for fans who are twiddling their fingers in lockdown to revel in.

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Messi's most underrated records

That's because Twitter user @AFC_MxL has collected almost 1,000 retweets and 2,700 'likes' for highlighting '10 of Lionel Messi’s records nobody talks about' in a brilliant thread.

The ten records in question originally come from a video by MagicalMessi, but the statistics are still correct by our estimations, so be sure to enjoy the thread in all its glory down below: 

Not a bad set of records to casually have on the side, that's for sure.

It's credit to Messi's indelible ability that being the greatest playmaker in World Cup history and bagging the most Champions League hat-tricks are some kind of side hustle.

As enjoyable as the constant back and forth between Ronaldo vs Messi might be, sometimes it's even more entertaining to take a step back to see what each of them has truly achieved.

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We're living in an era of the beautiful game of which there is no comparison and the time is fast approaching when we'll have to kiss goodbye to the two players that have made it so special.

Besides, the amount of records that Messi and Ronaldo have amassed in recent years makes it increasingly unlikely that history will be made in the future, if you catch our drift.