Happy Birthday, Lionel Messi! A summary of the most memorable moments of the football legend’s career

It is not easy to describe a man with more than 700 goals under his belt and innumerable major titles in his trophy cabinet. Adjectives fall short when one starts talking about Lionel Messi. Stats become just mere numbers when one takes a deep dive into the Inter Miami goal-scorer’s illustrious career. With seven Ballon d’Or trophies to his name, Messi is arguably the greatest player ever to grace a football field. Not many believed that a little boy from Rosario who left his hometown at the age of 13 would once go on to rule the world football. As Messi celebrates his 36th birthday today, it is time to relieve some memorable moments of the legendary Argentine footballer.

Lionel Messi’s first goal

May 1, 2005, is a special day for all Lionel Messi fans. After all, Messi, at the age of 17, had scored his official goal in Barcelona jersey against Albacete that night. He would eventually go on to score more than 600 goals for the Catalan giants.

Argentina debut

Lionel Messi earned his debut for Argentina during a friendly match in August 2005. Messi, 18, came on the pitch as a second-half substitute against Hungary. The outcome was not quite smooth for Messi as he received a red card after 43 seconds.

Messi’s Olympic gold

After a long wait and arduous work, Lionel Messi won the World Cup in 2022. But long before his epic World Cup glory, he claimed a piece of silverware in international football at the 2008 Beijing Olympic. Messi won the much-coveted gold medal in 2008.

Messi is a Barcelona legend

Lionel Messi broke Barcelona’s goal-scoring record after recording a hat-trick in 2012. Messi touched Cesar Rodriguez's record of 232 goals with his first strike against Granada. The Argentine went on to set a the goal-scoring record by finding the back of the two more times in that game.

Records and stats of Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi holds the record for scoring the most number of goals in a league. Messi achieved this feat after scoring 474 goals in La Liga. He also holds the record for most goals in a calendar year. In 2012, Messi had scored 91 goals to set this incredible record. In terms of club record, he has scored most goals for a single team. Messi achieved this feat with his childhood club Barcelona. He has 672 goals for the Blaugranas. Messi also became the first player in the history of the game to win two Golden Ball awards at the World Cup – 2014, 2022. No other footballer has more Ballon d’Or awards trophies than Messi. The former Barcelona striker has so far won the much-coveted individual award on seven occasions – 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.

Messi breaches final frontier with World Cup glory

Winning the World Cup trophy would arguably go on to be the most remarkable moment in Lionel Messi’s career. Messi had guided Argentina to FIFA World Cup in final in 2014 but the Albiceleste had to be content with the runners-up medal after being defeated by Germany. The story changed in 2022. Messi-led Argentina to their third World Cup title in Qatar. Argentina defeated France in the Qatar World Cup final to lift the trophy.