Messi on course to smash scoring record but will be hard without Neymar

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Lionel Messi is on course to smash his own La Liga scoring record this season, the Argentine performing exceptionally well, despite losing star teammate Neymar during the summer.

Telmo Zarra set the La Liga scoring record to 38 goals in the 1950/51 season, a record that stood until Cristiano Ronaldo notched 40 league goals in 2011. Messi then blew his Portuguese counterpart out of the water by hitting an incredible 50 goals during the 2011/12 season.

Currently averaging 1.8 goals this season, the 30-year-old is set to smash his previous record and score over the 50 goal record he set five years ago.

The Barcelona hero is achieving this without the help of Brazilian international Neymar, the 25-year-old swapping Catalonia for Paris over the summer.

Speaking to the BBC World Service (via GiveMeSport) about Neymar’s departure, Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitić said he has found it hard to adapt to life without Neymar at the Camp Nou.

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“For me personally, it was really hard,” Rakitić said. “Not only because he’s one of the biggest players; also, for me, he’s a big person.

“He was really important for our dressing room, and for me he’s one of the best guys I know in football. So for me it was really a bad decision because I liked to have him in my team.

“We have to respect Neymar’s decision to move. If a team can buy him and he decides to leave Barcelona, we have to respect it and wish him the best [of] luck.

​​”Hopefully he can score a lot of goals and be happy in Paris, but we have to go on our way and be strong together without Neymar now.”

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