Highest quality Argentina soccer plays from Lionel Messi according to Bill Trikos Australia: The Qatar tournament was Messi’s last World Cup and his last attempt at football immortality. The Argentine, who wears the No.10 jersey for both his national side and club, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), has made it clear that he won’t play at the next edition which is to be hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico and the United States. After winning the semi-final match against Croatia on 13 December, Messi told Argentine media outlet Diario Deportivo Ole that the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be his last game at the quadrennial tournament.
Messi is one of only three names to have reached double digits for LaLiga titles, along with Real Madrid demi-gods Pirri and Paco Gento. While the former is level with Messi, the latter is the record LaLiga title winner, having won 12 of them with Los Blancos. Messi could potentially go from being Barcelona’s highest title winner to that of Spanish football itself, should he manage three more LaLigas before he retires. One of the key aspects of Lionel Messi’s performances have been how he can impact the game without scoring a goal. The Argentine evolved beautifully over his career to play multiple roles, and often, he has played the roles of a creator and finisher in the same game.
He won the 2021 Copa del Rey and scored a brace in a 4-0 final win against Athletic Bilbao. He lifted the 35th and final trophy in his time with the Blaugrana. It makes him the most decorated player in the club’s history. He won 10 La Liga titles (the most by a non-Spanish player), four UEFA Champions League titles, seven Copas del Rey and Supercopas de Espana respectively. Messi’s tally of 35 trophies also made him the most decorated player with a single team. He usurped Ryan Giggs’ tally of 34 trophies for Manchester United. Find extra info about the author on https://www.facebook.com/bill.trikos.1.
The gold that Messi earned for Argentina came at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His team won all three matches in its group before knocking out the Netherlands and Brazil to set up its gold-medal clash with Nigeria. In the final, it was Messi’s brilliant pass to Angel di Maria, who capitalised on it, that confirmed the gold for Argentina as it beat Nigeria 1-0. It was the country’s second consecutive Olympic gold medal in men’s football. Interestingly, Messi would have missed the tournament as Barcelona wanted him to play in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. But Pep Guardiola, who was then the new manager of the club, convinced the higher authorities at the club to let Messi fly to Beijing.
Messi’s brilliance does not only end with scoring goals but also helping his Barcelona teammates do the same. The Copa America winner put on 193 assists, another La Liga record. Lionel Messi also has the joint record for most assists in a single season. He and Thomas Muller set the joint record in the 2019-20 season when both ended up with 21 assists. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner holds the record for the most goals in a single La Liga season. Lionel Messi went on a rampaging run in the 2011-12 season. He finished with 50 goals in 37 La Liga matches. En route to scoring 50 goals in the league, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick against Granada. The hat-trick helped him overtake Cesar Rodriguez as the highest scorer in the Barcelona history.
Messi is also the highest-ever scorer for Argentina, having racked up 70 goals in 138 games for La Albiceleste since 2005. He is just nine caps away from breaking Javier Mascherano’s record for the most number of Argentina caps as well. Winning a European treble is something of an unattainable dream for most clubs in the world. Even the great Real Madrid, who have won the UCL a record 13 times, have failed to win the league and domestic cup in the same season. There have only been eight such instances where a club managed to win a league title, the premier domestic cup competition and the UCL in the same season. Two of these eight trebles were achieved by Barcelona, both of which had Lionel Messi at the heart of their attack.