Best Achievements Of Lionel Messi

1. Champions League title with Barcelona

Lionel Messi was instrumental in winning this title. Photo: Bolavip

During the 2014/2015 season,Barcelona would enjoy one of it’s best seasons in club history, which culminated in winnings Europe’s most prized possession. After winning the La Liga and Copa del Rey titles, the Blaugranas took on Juventus in the Champions League final, who had also won their domestic titles and looked to achieve an historic treble.

Despite Juventus making the game interesting, Barcelona would not let up and eventually went on to win the game by a 3-1 scoreline to claim yet another treble winning season. Although Messi did not score, he was heavily involved during the match and even played an important role in Barcelona’s second goal, which put them back on just after Juventus had equalized, said by Bolavip.

2. Ballon d’Or awards

Along with his collective achievements, Messi would add individual awards to his already impressive trophy cabinet. In 2015, he won his fifth Ballon d’Or after helping Barcelona to another treble in the 2014/2015 season, which included the Champions League trophy the club achieved over Juventus.

In addition, he would add another Ballon d’Or and won his first FIFA’s The Best award in 2019 as a result of his great goals and individual performances, which helped Barcelona win another La Liga title in the 2018/2019 season.

3. Active LaLiga Player with the Highest League Title Wins

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, according to Sportskeeda.

Messi is one of the Barcelona players with most LaLiga titles. Photo: Sportskeeda

Messi is one of only three names to have reached double digits for LaLiga titles, along with Real Madrid demi-gods Pirri and Paco Gento. While the former is level with Messi, the latter is the record LaLiga title winner, having won 12 of them with Los Blancos. Messi could potentially go from being Barcelona's highest title winner to that of Spanish football itself, should he manage three more LaLigas before he retires.

4. The Golden Ball at the 2014 Fifa World Cup

The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the best forLionel Messi as a player and captain. In the group stage of the tournament, Messi scored 4 goals helping his team top their group. Moreover, he was the Man of the Match in all the three Argentine wins in the group stage. Messi was again the Man of the Match in Argentina’s win in the round of 16 against Switzerland. Argentina then beat Belgium 1 – 0 to progress to the semi-final of the World Cup for the first time since 1990.

Messi then scored his first penalty in his side’s win over Netherlands in the penalty shoot out in the semis. However, Argentina lost the final against Germany 1 – 0 after substitute Mario Götze scored for Germany in extra time. Lionel Messi was awarded the Golden Ball for being the best player in the tournament. He was also the joint third highest goalscorer with four goals and one assist. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in the final group match of Argentina against Nigeria, Messi scored the opening goal in a 2 – 1 victory. This made him the third Argentine after Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta to score in three different World Cups.

5. The Record for Most Goals in a Calendar Year

In the 2010–2011 season, Messi scored 53 goals while also providing 24 assists across all competitions. This made him the first player in Spanish football to reach the 50-goal benchmark. Barcelona won a third consecutive La Liga title with Messi scoring 31 goals. They also won the Champions League with Messi being the Man of the Match in their 3–1 victory over Manchester United in the final.

Moreover, Messi, with 12 goals, was the competition’s top scorer for the third consecutive year. In the 2011–2012 season, Messi scored 73 goals and provided 29 assists in all club competitions. His 73 goals surpassed Gerd Müller’s 67 goals in the 1972–73 Bundesliga season. This made Messi the single-season top scorer in the history of European club football. Messi scored 50 goals in La Liga in the season which remains a record for most goals scored by a player in a La Liga season.

In 2012, Lionel Messi broke Gerd Müller’s record of most goals scored in a calendar year. Messi scored 91 goals in all competitions for Barcelona and Argentina while Muller had scored 85 goals in 1972 for Bayern Munich and Germany. Barcelona finished runners-up in the La Liga while they were defeated in the semis in the Champions League. However, they did win the Copa del Rey, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Supercopa de España.

6. Record 700 Goals

During the season 2019/2020 season, Messi made history when he scored his 700th goal in his career. A remarkable achievement which has only seen a selected group of player achieve this record of goals. It came in a La Liga encounter against Atlético de Madrid at the Camp Nou from the penalty spot. Although it was a penalty, he did it in such style by chipping it into the goal.

What is even more remarkable is at the goal rate he has achieved this record (0.81 goals per game when he reached 700) and the fact he is still not yet close to retire. When he does retire, it will be incredible to see how many goals he can score in his career.