Lionel Messi birthday: A look at top 5 seasons of legend
Happy Birthday Goat: Known for his incredible dribbling skills, vision, playmaking abilities, and goal-scoring prowess, Lionel Messi turned 36 on June 24.
Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional soccer player widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. He was born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. Messi primarily plays as a forward but is also capable of operating as an attacking midfielder.
Messi began his professional career with FC Barcelona, where he played for the senior team from 2004 to 2021. Messi's individual achievements are also remarkable, having won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award (given to the world's best player) seven times as of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021.
Who thought that a boy hailing from Rosario Lionel Messi would go on to rule the world of football?
The little Argentinian magician won every single trophy that his eyes decided to rest on. He has almost every single trophy and record lying in his trophy cabinet. He is the player who has scored the highest number of goals in a single season.
With 73 goals in a single season, Lionel Messi announced to the world that in the upcoming years, he would go on to become one of the greatest players of all time to grace the football pitch. His best performance came against Valencia as he scored all four goals in the game.
After scoring 73 goals in a season many critics gave Messi the tag of one season wonder. However, the Argentinian maestro proved everybody wrong by scoring 60 goals in 2012-13. After replicating his stats from last season Messi silenced his critics for a very long time.
Lionel Messi came back in 2014-15 with 58 goals after enjoying an ordinary season according to his standards last year. Messi ended up scoring 5 hat tricks at the end of the season. However, even after his accolades, The Argentinian lost Ballon D Or to his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
As Messi came closer to his peak his performance also stepped to the next level. In the 2016-17 season, Messi ended up scoring 54 goals and 20 assists in 52 appearances. This was the last time Barca fans witnessed Messi, Neymar and Suarez together as one of the best front three in Football.
In 2010-11 season Messi was still in his early days and there was still scope for his natural talent to develop. However, Messi didn't fail to highlight what he could achieve even with his raw talent. This season Lionel Messi scored 53 goals and 27 assists in 55 games. This season also allowed him to put his hands on his first UCL title.
- With inputs from agencies
