But what he has achieved in each of the four terms - Ballon d'Or awards, European Golden Shoe awards, IFFHS World's Best Playmaker awards and the international tournament awards, would be a dream for any footballer. However, Messi still desires to win the FIFA World Cup, his ultimate dream with Argentina national team. He was the highest scorer, the highest assist provider, the player with the highest number of dribbles and key passes and above all, the Golden Ball winner.
What made it even more special was his series of achievements in the tournament. The win for Argentina in the Copa America 2021 final not only opened the door for a possible 7th Ballon d'Or for Messi it also proved the fact that Messi, as a leader, can win big things for his national team. In spite of having a mentionable contribution in most of the editions of the international tournament runs and having won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball in 2014, his leadership and adaptability were being questioned even after 2019. The Argentine legend had lost 4 finals, including a World Cup final. In each of the three separate categories, nobody could have achieved what he had, but there was just one stain of dirt in his career. The Achievements with the Blue and Whiteīy the year 2019, Lionel Messi had reached the untouched greatness of 6 Ballon d'Or awards, 6 European Golden Shoes and 4 IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awards. The milestone is not a surprising one at all for someone who has the highest number of assists in the history of the game. In fact, in the season 2019/20, Messi registered the highest number of assists (21) in a season by any footballer in the history of the top 5 European Leagues. In the years 2015, 2016, 20, he achieved the award which explains his increase of focus on playmaking since 2015. The man who won the record number of European Golden Shoe also has the joint-highest number of IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awards to his name. But in Messi's case, there are no boundaries for the term 'expectations.’ 4 IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awardsįrom a player with a goal-scoring ratio as great as Messi's, playmaking on a regular basis is almost never expected. Throughout the decade of the 2010s, Lionel Messi scored the highest number of official long-distance goals and free-kick goals in addition to his trademark dribbling run finishes. Unsurprisingly, he is also the scorer of the highest number of goals in a calendar year as he scored 91 goals in the year 2012. Nobody else in the history of football has won the award as many times as Messi has, and he has been one of the greatest goalscorers of all time. With his masterpiece vs Real Betis Leo Messi has scored 26 direct Free Kick goals since the beginning of 2011, that means the Argentine alone netted more goals from set-pieces than a number of high-profile teams in Europe’s top five leagues, like Real Madrid, Liverpool or Lyon among others. He won the prestigious landmark in the years 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017, 20. Only Kylian Mbappe holds his pace as he is the closest to Lio Messi in the race for the golden boot. Messi's masterclass against Ecuador at Goiania soon became the talk of the town on social media.The Argentine legend has added 6 European Golden Shoes to his name over the years. The newly out of contract superstar scored a sublime free-kick in stoppage time to enter his name on the scoresheet. Dazzling Messi powered Argentina to a 3-0 win in the quarter-final tie against Ecuador on Sunday. Messi scored the remarkable freekick goal and the Barcelona legend assisted two goals in Argentina's comfortable win over Ecuador at the Estadio Olimpico Pedro Ludovico. After surpassing his Ballon d'Or rival Ronaldo by netting in Argentina's stalemate with Chile in the Copa America opener, Messi scored another stunner from a direct free kick to make sure the La Albiceleste (The White and Sky Blues) enter the semi-final stage of the prestigious competition. Messi has scored 58 goals from direct free-kicks in his iconic careerĪrgentina captain Lionel Messi has extended his lead over Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring another sensational goal from a direct freekick in the 2021 edition of the Copa America on Sunday.