Lionel Messi

photo credit: https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/

Full Name
Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini

Position
Second Striker/Right Forward/Attacking Midfielder

Born
24 June 1987

Country
Argentina

Clubs
Barcelona (Spain)
Paris Saint-Germain (France)

Professional Career
2004-Present

International Caps/Goals
155 caps/80 goals

Honours
10 Spanish La Liga title, 7 Spanish Cup, 7 Spanish Super Cup (Barcelona)
4 UEFA Champions League, 3 UEFA Super Cup (Barcelona)
3 World Club Cup (Barcelona)
2005 FIFA Under-20 World Cup (Argentina)
2008 Summer Olympics (Argentina)
2021 Copa America (Argentina)
2009/2010/2011/2012/2015/2019 Ballon d’Or
2009 FIFA World Player of the Year
2010/2012/2013/2017/2018/2019 European Golden Shoe
2014 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball

photo credit: https://www.thestatesman.com/

Often hailed as Diego Maradona’s heir, Lionel Messi is a genius in football and a player that probably comes by every 50 years. Playing for Barcelona his entire career, Messi, with his extraordinary dribbling, finishing and freekick techniques, has scored more than 600 goals in all competitions, winning more than 30 trophies in the process. At the La Liga level, he holds the all-time records for goals, hat tricks and assists. In 2012, Messi smashed another record when he scored an incredible 91 goals for Barcelona and Argentina in a calendar year.

Messi is also the all-time top scorer for Argentina, but his legacy has not been completed with a World Cup trophy. He came close in 2014 when he led Argentina to the World Cup final, only to be defeated by Germany. Messi came close in the Copa America too, when his Argentina team was the runnerups in the 2007, 2015 and 2016 tournament; he eventually won his first and only Copa America in 2021.

The decade between 2009 and 2018 perhaps saw the best rivalry in football history when Messi of Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid completed with each other for the status of the best player in the world. In 2021, Messi left Barcelona, shocking the entire football world, after the club was unable to register him for the season due to financial and league regulation issues.