Arsène Wenger has hailed Lionel Messi after the Barcelona forward broke Gerd Muller’s record for goals scored in a calendar year.
Messi scored his 85th and 86th goals of 2012 in Sunday’s 2-1 win against Real Betis to move clear of the 85 netted by Muller in 1972.
Wenger was full of praise for Messi, and admits he never thought Muller’s haul would be bettered.
“With the biggest imagination, I would not have thought somebody would be capable to do that,” he told Arsenal Player.
“Congratulations to Messi. He is just mesmerising. What he is doing is unbelievable.
“It looks so easy to score, and we are all tempted to say ‘Let’s walk on this pitch and score goals’, because it looks so easy when he does it. When you have played football, you know how difficult it is to score one goal.
“To think that one player can score 86 per year, if you think you play nine and a half months, it’s nearly 10 goals guaranteed per month. When you start the month, you know this boy will give you 10 goals. It’s not bad!”
