With over 800 goals in international and club football, the legendary footballer Lionel Messi turns 36 of age on June 24, 2023. Messi has dominated the football world for the last two decades and remains one of the best footballers of all time despite his career's end stages.
Messi started his professional career with the Spanish team Barcelona through youth ranks in 2003. He made his first appearance for the senior team at the age of 17 years on October 16, 2004, in a La Liga game against Espanyol at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Since then, he scorched record after record with Barcelona and in La Liga.
After spending record-laden 18 years at Camp Nou, Messi joined Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in August 2021. He won two league titles in Paris and then moved to USA's Major League Soccer team Inter Miami in June 2023. At the international level, Messi, as a captain, won the Copa America in 2021 and the FIFA World Cup in 2022, ending Argentina's 36-year wait.
Lionel Messi's Top 10 Records:
- Messi has won record the prestigious Ballon d'Or award (World Player of the Year) on record 7 times
- Messi holds the record for scoring the most goals for a single club - 672 goals for Barcelona
- Messi is Argentina's all-time leading goal-scorer with 103 goals and also holds the record for most appearances (175)
- Messi has scored over 807 career goals and is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 838 goals
- Messi holds the record for most goals in La Liga - 474 goals
- Messi also holds the record for most assists in La Liga - 192
- Messi holds the record for the most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and in Copa America (17)
- Messi has won club-record 34 trophies with Barcelona
- Messi holds the record for most appearances in FIFA World Cup (26)
- Messi is the only player to win the FIFA Golden Ball (Player of the Tournament) award two times
