You know how some people are born to do and achieve certain things in their lives? Well, anyone who has ever witnessed Messi with a football at his feet knows exactly what I am talking about. Hailing from the Argentine city of Rosario the little master has come a long way and is today considered to be one of the best players to ever grace the football pitch.
A career which spans for over 12 years now, he has achieved things most football players only dream of (some don’t even dream that far). He has won 29 trophies in this span with his club Barcelona which also saw him win the Player of the Year award an incredible 5 times while ending as the runner up on 4 occasions. This basically means of the 12 years he has been playing professional football at the highest level, Messi hasn’t been in the top 2 players on the planet in a calendar year on only 3 occasions(his first 3 years), an achievement unmatched by any footballer. He is also the only footballer to have won the Ballon D’or/Player of the Year award a consecutive 4 times while also being the youngest one to ever win it. He is also the only player to have won the Ballon d’Or, FIFA World Player, Pichichi trophy and Golden Boot in same season (2009).He is Barcelona’s all-time leading goal scorer while also holding the record for scoring the most number of goals in a calendar year with a mind boggling 96 goals in 2012. Officially, he holds the record for most number of club goals in a season (73 in 2011/12 season) as well as holding the unique record of the longest scoring run in La Liga with 33 goals in 21 consecutive games. In number of trophies won for club in their career he lies 3rd on 29, only behind Ryan Giggs who tops the list with 34 & Vitor Baia/Keeny Dalgish who had 31. It is safe to say that by the time he finishes his career he will be topping this list as well as the Champions League top scorer list where he lies 2nd with 90 goals, just 5 behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
Standing at 5 “7 ,there are very few things Messi isn’t great at with the ball if any which include his heading and penalty taking capabilities while vision, finishing & dribbling are his superpowers. A player who makes a fool out of defenders on a regular basis, his mere presence in the team is enough to cause panic among opponent defences. The one big kryptonite in this Superman’s career is considered to be his lack of trophies with his international team, Argentina. Having reached the finals of the Copa America on 3 separate occasions and the World Cup once, Argentina lost all 4 finals (3 of them in 3 consecutive years) leaving him heart broken and taking a brief retirement from the international forum only to return in a matter of months. Though interestingly, he holds the record for the most international goals as well with 25 goals(shared with Cristiano Ronaldo & Vivian Woodward).
Fan or not, it is impossible to not accept that Messi is one of the best players to have ever played the game of football. The little magician continues to weave magic with his feet even after all these years and continues to amaze people with what he can do with the ball. Remember the name, the Magic that is Lionel Messi.