Will Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres break Lionel Messi's 73-goal scoring season record?

Gyokeres has been in incredible form for Sporting this season.

It’s impossible for Viktor Gyokeres to give up scoring. He would prefer not to.

The Sporting forward has scored an incredible 24 goals in 17 club games this season, notably a hat-trick against Manchester City. It is 32 goals in 23 games when you include Sweden’s games in all competitions.

Now his side will go into Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League matchup against Arsenal.

Given that the 26-year-old former Brighton, Swansea, and Coventry player is expected to draw interest from several of Europe’s elite teams, it appears likely that this will be his final season at Sporting.

However, this season has so much potential in itself for him. He is now on track to surpass Lionel Messi’s 2011–12 European mark of 73 goals.

Lionel Messi’s 73 goals for Barcelona in 60 games across all competitions set a record for the most goals scored by a club player in European football.

Next are the 66 goals scored by Ferenc Deak for Szentlorinci of Hungary in 1945–46 and Gerd Muller for Bayern Munich in 1972–73.

For Everton in 1927–28, Dixie Dean scored 63 goals in just 41 appearances. The 61 goals Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real Madrid in 2014–15 was his best season.

Will Viktor Gyokeres break Messi’s all-time European record?

After just 17 games, Gyokeres boasts more goals than Messi had during his season-ending run. This season, Viktor Gyokeres has scored 24 goals in 17 Sporting games.

In 2011–12, Messi scored 22 goals following the same number of Barca games. Throughout the season, the Sporting player scored a goal every 65 minutes, whereas Messi scored a goal every 72.

Considering Messi getting 14 goals in 11 games and Gyokeres scoring five goals in four games this season, their Champions League rates are roughly comparable.

Viktor Gyokeres for club & country this season:▪️23 games▪️28 goals▪️7 assists Unstoppable 🇸🇪🔥 pic.twitter.com/tBHgcNaXKQ

— Pubity Sport (@pubitysport) November 16, 2024

Sporting CP would need to win both of Portugal’s domestic cups and the Champions League in order for Viktor Gyokeres to take part in the 60 games that Messi managed that season.

They would play an extra two games in a play-off round if their Champions League performance deteriorated, if they placed between ninth and twenty-fourth, giving him a maximum of sixty-two matches to score from.

However, all of that depends on Gyokeres participating in every Sporting game.

In 2011–12, Messi missed four Barcelona games. Barcelona participated in every game that season, with the exception of the Champions League final, as they lost in the semi-final. They also played in the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

Gyokeres scored nine goals in six UEFA Nations League appearances for Sweden. He still has four more games left to pay for the national team this season.

During 2011–12, Messi scored nine goals in nine games for Argentina. Gyokeres improvement has long been apparent. His goal-scoring becomes better every season.

He appears on pace to surpass his 43 goals from the previous season. He scored 18 and 22 goals in his two complete seasons with Coventry. But breaking Messi’s record will certainly be very hard for him.

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