Lionel Messi

The player needs no introduction, yet we’ll give you one anyways. Despite his young age, Lionel Andres Messi, born on the 26th of June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe, is already branded as the greatest ever player in football history.

When he was introduced to professional senior football by Barcelona, the club already had a star talisman in the shape of Ronaldinho. That, however, did not seem to be a problem for the Argentine, who left the football world gasping during his Champions League debut in 2005. Since then, the player has helped the club win 6 La Liga titles, 2 Copa del Reys, 6 Spanish Supercups, 3 UEFA Champions Leagues, 2 UEFA Super Cups and 2 FIFA Club World Cups during Barcelona’s ‘golden era’.

The honours don’t end there, of course. Individually, the player has racked up an enormous collection of awards. These include 4 Ballon d’Ors, 3 European Golden Shoes, 4 UEFA Champions League top scorer awards as well as many other impressive medals, awards and inclusions into dream teams, both past and present.

Apart from awards and honours, Messi also broke countless records whilst keeping in mind that the player is still only 26 years of age. He holds the record for the most goals in a single year which is 91 and most goals in a club season which is 73. He has scored 339 goals so far for Barcelona, their highest tally so far, whilst also being the leading goalscorer in La Liga with 229 goals. The player is also the highest ever goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League with 66 goals so far in his illustrious career. He is also the first footballer to score consecutively against all teams in a league.

When taking all of these statistics into account, one could never deny the sheer talent which is Messi. Anybody reading this article should count themselves lucky that we were all born in a generation able to watch the sport’s greatest football player in action at his peak.