MADRID, Nov 12: Lionel Messi surpassed Pele’s milestone of goals in a calendar year by scoring for the 75th and 76th time in 2012 to move within nine of Gerd Mueller's all-time record with his sixth double of the La Liga campaign in Sunday's 4-2 win at Real Mallorca.

Messi's 75th goal of the year came on the stroke of half-time when he squeezed a shot under the Mallorca goalkeeper to make it 2-0 before making it 4-2 in the second-half with a super finish after combining with Alexis Sanchez.

The Argentine World Player of the Year beat Pele's tally of 75 from 1958 after he took his tally to a league-leading 15.

This is the latest scoring feat for the 25-year-old who set a Spanish league record of 50 goals last season and broke Cesar Rodriguez's 57-year milestone of 232 goals to become Barcelona all-time leading scorer.

In his 76 goals, sixty-four were for Barca and 12 for Argentina and he is closing in on the record for a calendar year of 85 set by the German Mueller in 1972.

Messi scored 73 goals in the 2011-12 season for Barcelona, breaking the previous European club record of 67 goals set by Mueller in 1972-73.

“Leo is constantly breaking records and his goal-scoring statistics are spectacular,” Barca coach Tito Vilanova said. “You have to remember that some of them are genuine stunners.”—Agencies