Adelaide Blue Eagles soccer player Antonio Hanxhari, 7, scores 124 goals in season
MEET 7-year-old Antonio Hanxhari, who has scored a whopping 124 goals in 14 games for his soccer club this season.
THE next Lionel Messi just might be playing juniors for Adelaide Blue Eagles.
Antonio Hanxhari has scored a whopping 124 goals in 14 games for the Marden soccer club's under-7 squad this season.
The Newton boy, who only began playing at club level about a year ago, found the back of the net 11 times in one match and has not been kept goalless.
He averages a remarkable 8.8 goals per game - something even Barcelona star Messi would envy.
Blues Eagles technical director Zoran Karadzic said Antonio, 7, was one of the best juniors he had seen.
"He's a very, very talented boy," Karadzic says.
"He can do things that other kids can't do - he knows how to pass the ball and run, dribbling on the left and right sides.
"Where he's going to finish in a couple of years time nobody can predict.
"But if keeps doing what he's doing and works to understand the game he's going to be a very good player."
The under-7 competition is played on a smaller pitch by teams of four players.
Antonio attributes his form to hours of practice in his backyard, where he aims at small, portable goals.
"Scoring goals makes me happy," he says.
"Sometimes when I score my teammates hug me."
Antonio, a Chelsea supporter, hopes to one day turn professional.
Roberta Hanxhari says her son has been kicking a soccer ball since he could walk.
"I've definitely been stunned by how he's going," she says.
"He's a natural."