TL;DR: Across Europe's top 5 leagues since 2004, only 17 players have ever hit 1.35 non-penalty goal contributions per 90 in a season. Only two have done it more than once. Messi did it six times, and his 2012 season (1.80) is insane. Hi all I was investigating Messi's metrics and found quite an amazing standout. It's basically more proof that he is the GOAT. The metric Non-penalty goal contributions per 90 minutes (non-penalty goals + assists, per 90 played) for every forward in: Premier League La Liga Bundesliga Serie A Ligue 1 No Champions League. It isn't one of the top five leagues, or at least technically it is a competition of teams from europes leagues. As such I didn't include it. Also, including it would also skew things, since only some players get CL minutes and the opposition varies a lot. Benchmarks Level NP G+A per 90 Good 0.75 Great 1.04 Greatest 1.35 Every 1.35+ season since 2004 # Season Player Club League Min G PK A npG+A/90 1 2012-13 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 2,650 46 4 11 1.80 2 2020-21 Luis Muriel Atalanta Serie A 1,436 22 2 7 1.69 3 2015-16 Zlatan Ibrahimović Paris S-G Ligue 1 2,549 38 5 13 1.62 4 2010-11 Arjen Robben Bayern Munich Bundesliga 1,130 12 0 8 1.59 5 2014-15 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid La Liga 3,100 48 10 16 1.57 6 2015-16 Luis Suárez Barcelona La Liga 3,150 40 3 17 1.54 7 2011-12 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 3,270 50 10 16 1.54 8 2015-16 Gareth Bale Real Madrid La Liga 1,733 19 0 10 1.51 9 2018-19 Kylian Mbappé Paris S-G Ligue 1 2,343 33 1 7 1.50 10 2014-15 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 3,375 43 5 18 1.49 11 2018-19 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 2,713 36 4 13 1.49 12 2011-12 Gonzalo Higuaín Real Madrid La Liga 1,712 22 0 6 1.47 13 2020-21 Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich Bundesliga 2,458 41 8 7 1.46 14 2005-06 Miroslav Klose Werder Bremen Bundesliga 2,151 25 1 11 1.46 15 2010-11 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 2,858 31 4 19 1.45 16 2016-17 Álvaro Morata Real Madrid La Liga 1,334 15 0 6 1.42 17 2017-18 Neymar Paris S-G Ligue 1 1,786 19 4 13 1.41 18 2015-16 Karim Benzema Real Madrid La Liga 1,979 24 0 7 1.41 19 2019-20 Kylian Mbappé Paris S-G Ligue 1 1,513 18 0 5 1.37 20 2024-25 Omar Marmoush Eint. Frankfurt Bundesliga 1,448 15 2 9 1.37 21 2013-14 Sergio Agüero Man City Premier League 1,528 17 0 6 1.35 22 2024-25 Ousmane Dembélé Paris S-G Ligue 1 1,730 21 1 6 1.35 23 2009-10 Lionel Messi Barcelona La Liga 2,805 34 1 9 1.35 How rare is this? 23 seasons in 20+ years, by 17 players Only 2 players have done it more than once: Messi: 6 times Mbappé: 2 times Ronaldo did it once (2014-15, 1.57). It gets sillier when you account for minutes A lot of the entries above are part-seasons. Robben's 1.59 came from 1,130 minutes and Muriel's 1.69 from 1,436. Scoring that fast is a lot easier off the bench or in half a season. Filter to full seasons (2,500+ minutes) and only 9 are left: Rank Season Player npG+A/90 1 2012-13 Messi 1.80 2 2015-16 Ibrahimović 1.62 3 2014-15 Ronaldo 1.57 4 2015-16 Suárez 1.54 5 2011-12 Messi 1.54 6 2014-15 Messi 1.49 7 2018-19 Messi 1.49 8 2010-11 Messi 1.45 9 2009-10 Messi 1.35 Messi has 6 of the 9 full seasons above 1.35. Everyone else in Europe combined has 3. The gap from 1st to 2nd (0.18) is the same as the gap from 2nd to 8th (0.18). I made a video on this you can see here   submitted by   /u/RingedMysteries [link]   [comments]