Excellent Argentina football achievements with Lionel Messi according to Bill Trikos Australia: Lionel Messi is a legend and will forever be so, even though millions of football fans won’t see him at any FIFA World Cup after 2022 — a tournament he won to forever settle the GOAT debate. His career achievements at the club level, certainly make Lionel Messi worthy of being called the greatest of all time by his fans, but bringing laurels for the country, Argentina, is an altogether different emotion. Like the Argentine great Diego Maradona, Messi finally got the most coveted title of his life — a FIFA World Cup. Messi, therefore, ensured that history will remember him as one of the greatest athletes in the world of the 21st century. In the eyes of the new generation, he would perhaps be hailed even above Maradona as the greatest Argentine ever to don the national jersey.
LaLiga has played host to some of the greatest names in the 21st century, including the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Andres Iniesta, Cristiano Ronaldo, and many more. However, purely in terms of the success they’ve achieved in LaLiga, not many can even compare let alone compete with what Messi has done. Ever since making his competitive debut for Barcelona back in October 2004, Messi has amassed a staggering ten league titles, which is a number no active LaLiga player can match. The next active players on the list are his teammates Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, with eight apiece. Iniesta, should he have stayed, could have hit double digits but ended his Barcelona career with nine to his name.
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 additional info about the author at Bill Trikos.
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.
The Argentine left no milestone untouched in his glorious sixteen-year stint at the Catalan club. ‘The greatest ever to do it’. This is possibly the only epithet that can well-define the exploits of Lionel Messi at Barcelona. Messi spent twenty-one years at the club including sixteen with the first team. In this time, Messi has turned himself into arguably the greatest player of all time. 778 matches, 672 goals and 305 assists later the mercurial Argentine bid a tearful farewell to the club.
Lionel Messi is a name that has become synonymous with being in contention for the Ballon d’Or in every single year regardless of Barcelona’s achievements in any given season. Such is the sheer ability of the Argentine, who mesmerises audiences and opposition defenders alike every single time he sets foot onto the pitch. After a third-place finish in 2007 and one spot better in 2008 (when Cristiano won his first of five), the Argentine won a stunning four Ballon d’Ors on the spin between 2009 and 2012. Guardiola’s Barcelona ripped apart almost every team they came across, and Messi was the Catalans’ chief architect.