FIVE RECORDS
THAT MAY
NEVER BE
BROKEN
Not all records are ready to tumble.
Daryl Hammond picks out five records
that are likely to stand the test of time...MOST GOALS BY A GOALKEEPER – 131,
ROGERIO CENI
While most goalkeepers score from
lucky, wind-assisted hoofs upfield or
late corners, Ceni carved out a niche as
a goalkeeper who was also a free-kick
and penalty specialist during his career,
spent mostly with Sao Paolo – for whom
he once scored 21 times in a single
season – and the Brazil national team.MOST GOALS IN A CALENDAR YEAR –
91, LIONEL MESSI
The Barcelona star bested Gerd Muller’s
seemingly impossible 40-year-old mark
of 85 goals in a single year, reaching 91
for club and country in 2012. While it
was probably said of Muller’s tally that
no one would ever surpass it, surely no
one will ever reach three figures in 12
months.LONGEST TIME WITHOUT CONCEDING
A GOAL – 1816 MINUTES – MAZAROPI
The goalkeeper, who spent his entire
22-year career in Brazil, kept 20 clean
sheets in a row as he set this record
with Vasco de Gama. Playing between
1970 and 1992, his record-setting
heroics in goal still only earned one
international cap for the Selecao.MOST GOALS IN A SINGLE WORLD
CUP – 13, JUST FONTAINE
Miroslav Klose's 16 World Cup goals
across four tournaments in an
impressive record. However it makes the
feat of Frenchman Just Fontaine that
more remarkable, as he needed only six
games to score 13 goals in his first and
only World Cup in 1958.MOST OFFICIAL APPEARANCES –
1,390, PETER SHILTON
While Gianluigi Buffon has been praised
for his longevity after 25 seasons of
football, he is still over 200 appearances
behind former England goalkeeper
Peter Shilton, who played for over
three decades. He made his first senior
appearance in 1966 for Leicester City,
and ended his career in 1997 at Leyton
Orient.360 RECORD BREAKERS
It is said that the best ability is availability
and longevity and durability is a talent
and few embody that quite like Gianluigi
Buffon. Even at the ripe age of 42-years-
old and more 1,000 appearances deep into
his career, he has shown little indication of
retiring.
Despite his current role as a backup to
Wojciech Szczęsny at Juventus after
leaving Italy for a brief spell at Paris Saint-
Germain, Buffon levelled Paolo Maldini’s
record of 647 Serie A appearances. His role
in the team may is now one that provides
veteran leadership in the dressing room, as
opposed to being a regular contributor, but
his many years at Juventus even in his later
years were far from tokenistic. He showed
just how agile he still is this season, saving
Federico Santander’s audacious bicycle
kick in the 94th minute.
As recently as 2016 Buffon set a league
record for going 974 minutes – 10 clean
sheets – without conceding. He came
within 15 minutes of breaking his own
record in 2018 at the sprightly age of 40.
For him there may be records still to come
this season. No one can match his eight
Serie A titles, and it could be nine come
May.
Speaking of league titles, one pair close
to their first are Liverpool full-backs Andy
Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
While Liverpool are breaking all manner of
records as they steamroll their way towards
a first Premier League title, those set by
their unorthodox full-backs are particularly
intriguing.
Last season left-back Robertson equalled
the league record for assists by a defender,
before teammate Alexander-Arnold set a
new mark of 12. He has already hit double
figures this season, becoming the first
defender in the English top flight to do so
in more than one campaign.
England international Alexander-Arnold
is the league’s youngest player to nab a
hat-trick of assists and at 21 still has plenty
of opportunities both to catch record-
setter Ryan Giggs’ mark of 162 and Thierry
Henry’s 20 in a season.
One man who did finally catch the Arsenal
legend is Sergio Aguero. From his time as
a fresh-faced teenager at Atletico Madrid
to today, a relative veteran, he has proven
himself as a goal machine. Even as Pep
Guardiola questioned his place in the team
and forced Aguero to change his style the
striker was never far from the scoresheet or
many fantasy football teams.
He has already immortalised himself inManchester City history after scoring a
Premier League title-winning goal in the
96th minute against QPR in 2012 and in
January he passed Alan Shearer’s record
for most Premier League hat-tricks with 12.
But league-wide, his achievements have
been underappreciated.
The Argentine striker has never won the
PFA Player of the Year award, only making
the team of the year for the first time in- Only after passing former Arsenal
striker Henry’s record for most Premier
League goals by an overseas player
(in fewer games) at 176 was he in the
conversation as one of the league’s best
ever players.
Aguero wasn’t necessarily better or worse
than Henry before or after he passed the
record set by the Montreal Impact boss,
but modern football frequently fails to
recognise greatness until there is a number
that can be attached to it. This has been a
golden era for record-setting players, and
the numbers prove it.
TOP:
Just Fontaine set a
record in 1958. It still
hasn't been broken.
TOP RIGHT:
Rogerio Ceni
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Lionel Messi and
family
BOTTOM:
Peter Shilton and
his wife.