Today 24th June,2021 marks the 34th Birthday of arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Lionel Messi. The name needs no introduction.
Born in Rosario, Argentina in 1987, Messi's life always revolved around football and just at the mere age of 13, he was signed by FC Barcelona for whom he made his competitive debut aged 17 in 2004 and what followed was simply magnificent.
In his illustrious career, Messi has played over 925 games for his club Barcelona and country Argentina. In that time he has found the net 745 times and has further assisted 311 goals.
Such high goalscoring form would go empty-handed. Messi has won 35 major honours in his career with 10 La Liga titles, 4 Champions League, 7 Copa Del Rey, 7 Super Cups ,3 UEFA Super Cup and 3 FIFA Club World Cup.
Speaking of individual awards, Messi has won the prestigious Ballon D'Or 6 times in his career. He has also won the European Golden Shoe 6 times and the Pichichi trophy 8 times. Throughout his career he has had a long time rivalry with Portuguese Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
In 2012, Leo broke every individual record that was possible as he netted 91 goals in 12 months time. By doing so he broke the all-time previous record of 85 goals in a calendar year set by Germany and Bayern Munich great Gerd Mueller. To commemorate this moment, Bayern have kept a signed jersey of Messi in their cabinet which is the only non-Bayern item.
One thing that has always been missing from his career is an international trophy. Messi surfaced heartbreak with Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final as Germany defeated them 1-0 after extra time. Argentina then lost the 2015 and 2016 Copa America Finals both to Chile on penalties following 0-0 draws after extra time in both games.
At the moment, Argentina are top of their group in the Copa America 2021 edition. Maybe this might be his year to land an international trophy to his name. Even if he fails to do so, there won't be any major harm to his name as he has already graved his name as the BEST.
0 Comments