In case you don't know, the word "GOAT" means Greatest Of All Time. Many might not agree he deserves to be called that, but as far as I am concerned, he's the best player I've ever seen. On this day, as far back as 1987, Loinel Messi was born somewhere in Argentina. This is a recent picture of him.
His beautiful and awesome style of play has won the heart of many and it made him what he is today. He started his football career at Barcelona. The team agreed to pay for his medical fee then; he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency when he was 13, and after a successful medical treatment, he was superb in the youth team. In 2004, he played his first game for the senior team and since then, he has been a key player. Although, injury wouldn't let him be, but many saw him as a prospect. Messi soon became a very important player in the team. He'd played with a lot of Barcelona stars and was never for once considered a substitute since he broke free from his injury crisis.
His first achievement was for the Argentine team, the FIFA Under 20 World cup hosted in 2005. Argentina were crowned champions, while Messi won the golden ball and golden shoe. He was the highest goal scorer and the best player in the competition. He was called into the senior national team then and he played in the FIFA world cup hosted the following year. Messi was/is the youngest Argentine player to play and score in a World cup match. In 2008, he was part of the team that won Olympic gold medals, and ever since then, he hasn't lifted any other trophy for Argentina. Notwithstanding, he has led them to three consecutive finals as a captain. One was in the world cup hosted in 2016 and the other two were Copa America finals. He announced his retirement after and later changed his decision and made his country qualify for 2018 FIFA world cup competition. He's the all time leading goal scorer for his country.
If you must know, his club side is where most of his achievements lies. Messi is Barcelona all time leading goal scorer and has won more trophies than any other player in the team. He's won four champions league, six Copa Del Rey and ten Laliga titles. His total trophies for Barcelona is 34 which includes club world cup, super cup and kings cup. There's nothing he hasn't won in Europe except the competition he didn't feature in. He also has the most assists in Laliga making him more than a goal scorer. He's Barcelona's all time greatest and the team has been finding it difficult to play without him. Well, his brilliancy and achievements aren't the only things special about him, he created some records yet to be broken.
He has won the most European Golden shoe. The last one he won made it a total of six. Messi is the only player to score 91 goals in a single calendar year, and the top scorer in a club season, 73 goals for Barcelona in 2011/2012 season. Also, he is the only player to win four Balon D'ors in a row. He has won five of it. He and Ronaldo are the only players to achieve it. Messi has been consistent since he made his debut for Barcelona and is still very active. Ever since he and Ronaldo started ruling the world of football, the only player to lift the Balon D'or is Luka Modric, and that was last year. They ruled the world of football for ten years and none of them is looking tired.
Right now, he is in a competition , Copa America which might be his last for his national team. He's aging and won't be forgotten even if he stops playing. From June 24th last year till this moment, we know what he's done. Hopefully, he will do more come this time, next year.
Happy birthday to one of the greatest of all time, Lionel Messi.
