Footbol goat

There isn't much left for Lionel Messi to win in a truly astounding football career that will now see the superstar take his talents to Inter Miami after announcing on June 7 that he is joining the MLS club. Messi played his last game for Paris Saint-Germain on June 3 and can claim just about every major trophy available to him, including three Champions League triumphs with Barcelona and that precious and a previously elusive World Cup for Argentina. Indeed, the only competition that Messi has played in and not won during his professional career is the Coupe de France after Marseille eliminated PSG in February that stopped him completing his personal clean sweep. However, since making his senior debut in 2004, Messi has accumulated a truly vast number of honours and individual records. And, even at the age of 35, he's still closing in on an array of significant landmark achievements. And now he'll have a shot at silverware from any entirely different league once he suits up for Miami. Here we take a look at his trophy haul, his senior career stats and the impressive array of records he already holds, as well as a comprehensive rundown of the major career milestones he has in his sights with regular updates as he nears each of them. - Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) Messi's career trophies Since turning pro 19 years ago, Messi has been stockpiling trophies at an absurdly consistent rate. In fact, 2013-14 and 2019-20 were the only trophyless seasons of his career (unless you count the "Pichichi" award as LaLiga's top goal scorer that he won in 2019-20). One of the most decorated players in football, the Argentine has 43 major honours to his name at club and international level, which leaves him just shy of former Barca teammate Dani Alves' record haul of 46. Messi's longtime rival, Cristiano Ronaldo has 34 trophies under his belt. Messi has won more major trophies with Barcelona (35) than any other player in the Catalan club's 123-year history. That total includes 10 LaLiga titles, eight Spanish Supercopas, seven Copa del Reys and four Champions Leagues (including 2005-06, when the teenaged Messi made six appearances including starts in both legs of the round-of-16 win over Chelsea.) Messi added two major club titles during his maiden season in France (the Ligue 1 title and the Trophee des Champions), and he won the Ligue 1 title again for the 2022-23 season. He also won a hat trick of international honours with Argentina: the 2022 CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions (also known as the Finalissima), the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Lionel Messi scored the quickest goal of his career in a June friendly for Argentina against Australia, finding the net after just 97 seconds. VCG/VCG via Getty Images Records held by Messi Messi holds many individual records, befitting his status as one of the greatest of all time. He has won the Ballon d'Or for being the world's best player seven times, two more than Ronaldo, who is next on the list. No other player, male or female, has won it more than three times. Messi also is the only player to have won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award twice: first when he was a losing finalist in 2014, and again after leading his country to glory at the 2022 tournament. As well as being his former club's most decorated player, Messi is also Barca's all-time top goal scorer (672) and appearance-maker (778) following his 17-year association. He also holds the record for most total goals scored by any player in LaLiga (474) as well as the most goals scored in a single LaLiga season (50) after reaching a half-century in 2011-12. Unbelievably, Messi also holds the record for most career league assists in LaLiga (192) and the record for the most assists made in a single season (21, in 2019-20), thus proving his extraordinary value as a creative force. The former Barca forward also has scored more career hat tricks in LaLiga (36) than any other player, as well as sharing the record for the most hat tricks in a single season (eight, in 2011-12) with Ronaldo, who matched the feat with Real Madrid in 2014-15. EDITOR'S PICKS Messi to join MLS' Inter Miami after PSG exit 292dESPN Messi to Miami takes: What move to MLS means for player, Barca, fans 292dESPN Shine bright like a diamond: Barca's new home kit honours historic women's team 284dChris Wright Messi's untouchable form in 2012 also saw him set a record as the man with most goals in single calendar year by scoring 91 times: 79 for Barca, 12 for Argentina. He also is the most frequent scorer in El Clasico matches between Barca and Real Madrid with 26 goals in 45 games. Ronaldo is joint-second on 18 goals (in 30 games,) alongside fellow Madrid great Alfredo Di Stefano. As further testament to Messi's longevity and consistency, he has made more LaLiga appearances than any other foreign-born player (520) while also having won more top-flight league titles in Spain than any other non-Spanish-born player (10). While Ronaldo remains the Champions League's all-time top scorer with 140 goals, Messi still jointly holds the record for most hat tricks scored in the competition (eight, level with Ronaldo). He was the first player ever to score five goals in a single Champions League match when he smashed a quintuple past Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011-12 round of 16. Messi also holds the Champions League records for most total goals in the round of 16 (29 goals) and the most goals scored in the group stage (80), while Ronaldo holds the corresponding records for the knockout phase overall (67), the quarterfinals (25), the semifinals (13) and the final (4). Lionel Messi holds the record for most home goals scored in the Champions League with 78 (Ronaldo holds the record for away goals with 63), while also being the only player in competition history to have scored against 40 different opponents. He also has scored more goals for one club in the Champions League (120 for Barcelona) than any other player. And just to add a little more icing to an already top-heavy cake, Messi's run of scoring in 18 consecutive Champions League seasons between 2005-06 and 2022-23 is also a competition record. Messi surpassed rival Cristiano Ronaldo in another category to finish the 2022-23 season by scoring the most goals in Europe's top five leagues. Messi scored his 496th career goal for PSG on May 27, 2023, breaking Ronaldo's record in the process. Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d'Or seven times, four more than anyone else other than Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won it five times. FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images MESSI'S MILESTONES 1,000 career games (Messi on 1,038) ACHIEVED Messi took his total of senior matches played for club and country into four figures at the 2022 World Cup, in the round-of-16 win over Australia. Naturally, he scored one of the goals in the 2-1 win en route to lifting the trophy. 800 career goals (Messi on 807) ACHIEVED Messi has become second player ever (depending on who's numbers you use) to reach the 800-goal milestone, following in the wake of Ronaldo, who brought up his eighth century with a brace in Manchester United's 3-2 victory over Arsenal in December 2021. Messi reached the milestone in Argentina's 2-0 win over Panama in a March 23 friendly in Buenos Aires, the first game back for the Albiceleste following their triumph in Qatar. As far as the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) is concerned, Ronaldo is the world-record holder with 830 official senior goals for club and country. But other sources differ due to historical inconsistencies in the classification of "official" goals scored in "official" competitions. For example, Pele claimed to have scored well over 1,000 goals during his career but because of the unreliability of the data collected during his heyday in the 1950s and 60s, and which goals count as being scored in "official" matches as opposed to "friendlies," the Brazil legend's tally could be as low as 757 goals. 700 club goals (Messi on 704) ACHIEVED Split between Barcelona (672) and PSG (32) means Messi has reached the same milestone as Ronaldo did with Manchester United in a 2-1 win against Everton in October (which proved to be Ronaldo's last for the club). Messi scored his 700th goal in a 3-0 win for PSG at Marseille on Feb. 26, 2023. 300 club assists (Messi on 303) ACHIEVED For all the cavalcade of goals scored through the years, Messi is also one of the world's most creative players. He registered his 300th career assist in club football, almost inevitably, for Kylian Mbappe during the 2-1 win at Auxerre on May 21. 1,000 club goal contributions (Messi on 1,007) ACHIEVED Just to hammer home the complete nature of his attacking talents, Messi's total career goal contributions (i.e. goals plus assists) in club football is more than four figures. Staggering. LIVE ON ESPN+ (SELECTED GAMES) The beautiful game lives here. Stream top leagues, tournaments and teams. Sign up for ESPN+ SATURDAY, MARCH 23 (all times ET) • Stockport County vs. MK Dons (1 p.m.) • Espanyol vs. Tenerife (4 p.m.) • Las Vegas Lights vs. El Paso (8 p.m.) • Phoenix Rising vs. Oakland Roots (10 p.m.) SUNDAY, MARCH 24 (all times ET) • Levante vs. Elche (1 p.m.) • Portland Thorns vs. Gotham FC (7 p.m.) 100 senior international goals (Messi on 103) ACHIEVED Already the all-time top appearance-maker (174 games) for his national team, Messi is the first Argentina player to surpass the 100-goal mark. He achieved the century mark in a friendly match against Curaçao on March 28. In fact, he did in style by notching a hat trick in the 7-0 win. Trailing Messi by a considerable distance, Gabriel Batistuta is second on the list of the Albiceleste's highest scorers with 56 goals in 78 games, while the great Diego Maradona is fifth overall with 34 goals in 91 games. Messi is also the first South American male player to hit the 100-goal mark and second South American overall behind Brazil's Marta, who has 109 for her country. Ronaldo is the man with the most goals scored in senior internationals of all time, having found the back of the net 122 times for Portugal. And with 198 appearances for Os Navegadores, Ronaldo became the most capped men's player in international football against Liechtenstein in a Euro 2024 qualifying match on March 23. Despite both players being closer to 40 years of age than they are to 30, expect them to keep writing records for a while yet. 900 career club games (Messi on 863) Messi can see the 900th appearance of his senior club career on the horizon. He could reach it in the 2024 season with Miami. 700 career non-penalty goals (Messi on 699) While many consider his consistency from the spot to be one of the few weak elements to his game, Messi has still successfully converted 108 times from 12 yards for club and country. 20 consecutive years with a senior goal (Messi on 19) Messi needs to find the net just once next year (2024) to make it two full decades with at least one goal registered each and every season therein. Two years Messi's senior, Ronaldo's scoring streak stands at 22 consecutive years now that he has opened his account for 2023 with Saudi side Al Nassr. 500 club league goals (Messi on 496) Ronaldo was the first of the duo to pass 500 goals in club league games after scoring the 11th four-goal haul of his career for Al Nassr against Al Wehda on Feb. 10. However, Messi is not far behind. He surpassed Ronaldo's total of 495 goals in Europe's top five leagues and will reach this particular milestone in Miami. 50 goals in Champions League knockout phase (Messi on 49) Messi will be one shy of a half-century of goals scored in the business end of Europe's top club competition, with only one man ahead of him: Ronaldo holds the record with 67 goals in 80 games between the round of 16 and the final. That means Messi will need a loan back to a European club in the future to reach this tally. Editor's note: This tracker follows Messi's senior career and therefore does not include his appearances, goals or assists for Argentina at youth level or for Barcelona's B and C teams ESPN's Stats & Information Group contributed to this report Terms of UsePrivacy PolicyInterest-Based © ESPN Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. India vs Afghanistan FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Stimac raises stakes, says 'will quit if we don't qualify' India will be aiming for all three points against Afghanistan after a goalless draw in the away fixture last week. AIFF Media Aaditya Narayan Mar 25, 2024, 07:00 PM Share LikeLike Open Extended Reactions The Big Picture India need nothing less than a win. It's as simple as that. If they are to have their destiny of qualifying for the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in their own hands, then nothing less than three points against Afghanistan at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday will suffice. Coach Igor Stimac was laughing when he said he would quit if India failed to reach the third round but it's possible that, in that scenario, the decision will not be his. India had a pretty miserable night in the altitude of Abha, Saudi Arabia last week in a 0-0 draw, when Igor Stimac's side looked disjointed for large spells, and never had even consistent period of putting pressure on a well-drilled Afghanistan side. EDITOR'S PICKS FIFA WC 2026 Qualifiers: India's goalless despair continues as they fail to beat under-strength Afghanistan 4dAnirudh Menon FIFA WCQ: India suffer damaging draw against Afghanistan 4dSunaadh Sagar Five things to keep an eye on for match day 4 of the Asian World Cup qualifiers 13hGabriel Tan They still had the chances to win that game, though, primarily through the heads of Manvir Singh and Subhasish Bose. But, they also did give up chances to the Afghans, with Ashley Westwood's side even hitting the woodwork through Rahmat Akbari. However, despite what was objectively not a good result for India, they remain in control of their destiny, being a point ahead of Kuwait at the halfway point in this group. They have two home games to come, and four points from those two games is likely to be enough to take India through to the next round, even without the away game against Qatar mattering. Even though India are in control of their destiny, what they're not in control of is their ability to score goals. It's now 532 minutes since Manvir Singh's goal gave them the perfect start to this campaign in Kuwait City. Since then, even though India have played the two-time defending Asian champions Qatar and other top Asian sides like Australia and Uzbekistan, their bluntness in front of goal has developed into a major concern. What they said: Sunil Chhetri, captain - India: "As the game progressed, we became more desperate. When you start a game dominating and you miss chances, you have the idea that you're chasing the game because you want to win. I think no matter who you play against, if the chances come, send them." Igor Stimac and Sunil Chhetri were in a positive mood in the pre-match press conference ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan in Guwahati. Baranidharan M / AIFF Igor Stimac, coach - India: "If I don't take India to the third round I will leave, with my pride, with my honour on everything that was done here in the five years of work. I will leave my position to someone else" "We were disappointed with the end result in the first game against Afghanistan. We need to make things right here. I hope there will be a good crowd here in Assam tomorrow.. We remember how well we played against Oman here the last time we were here, but that was a long time ago. We are positive and looking forward to tomorrow's game where we'll try to do our best. A draw is the same as a loss for us. We need to make things easier for the June game against Kuwait." Ashley Westwood, coach - Afghanistan: "Ten years ago when I came here, compared to that, (Indian) football has improved significantly. Every player is physically fit, everyone is conditioned correctly, they last 90 minutes (and) you don't see Indian players getting cramps." Form Guide (Most recent first) India: DLLLL The four straight losses against Qatar and in the Asian Cup were maybe expected, but the draw last week wasn't. India have now gone five full 90-minute games without a win, and nobody knows better than Stimac that it needs changing. Afghanistan: DLLWW Before the 0-0 draw last week, Afghanistan had conceded 12 goals in their previous two games. They come to Guwahati as underdogs, but their defensive organisation and discipline made them really tough to break down in Abha, so Westwood will want a repeat of last week's showing. Head-to-Head Sahal Abdul Samad celebrates scoring the late winner for India vs Afghanistan. Shibu Preman / Power Sport Images for the AFC Total games played: 12 India wins: 7 Afghanistan wins: 1 Draws: 4 The last time Afghanistan came to Indian shores, they were beaten 2-1 thanks to a last-ditch Sahal Abdul Samad goal, which followed goals from Sunil Chhetri and Zohib Amiri in the last ten minutes. Their only win against India came eight years ago, but one can be certain Westwood will come to Guwahati with the intention of spoiling an anticipated Indian party. The Concerns For India Where are the goals coming from? Stimac learned the hard way on Thursday night that just filling your team with attacking players doesn't do much to improve the attacking output. India threatened from set-pieces, but weren't convincing enough from open play to win enough of those set-pieces. They had no link between the four attackers and the rest of the team, and that resulted in large spaces in between the lines for Afghanistan to exploit in transition as well. India lacked cohesion between midfield and attack in their game away to Afghanistan. AIFF For Afghanistan Well, Westwood's team has shown that the player boycott that has overshadowed their preparations hasn't really hampered them that much on the pitch. However, much like India, their inability to string together cohesive attacking moves even when afforded tons of space by India's lack of tactical discipline will be an area to work on ahead of this one. The Key Players For India Sunil Chhetri will still be the one that India turn to for being clinical in front of goal. After goals in his 25th, 50th, 75th, 100th, and 125th caps for India, the skipper will be looking to mark his 150th cap for the country with a goal as well. However, the keys for Chhetri to be able to score are likely to rest at the feet of Brandon Fernandes. The FC Goa skipper is clearly the most technically proficient player in this Indian lineup. All of that will be needed in this game. Brandon's ability to pick passes through the eye of a needle over either short or long range will be very crucial for India in their quest for the initiative. To make the most of Brandon's ability, allowing the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte and Mahesh Singh to make runs in behind the Afghan defence will also be critical. India were a much improved outfit with Brandon Fernandes on the pitch against Afghanistan. AIFF Media For Afghanistan The Afghan front two of Jaber Sharza and Omid Popalzai always kept the Indian centre-backs Anwar Ali and Rahul Bheke on their toes throughout the game last week. Sharza could've even got himself on the scoresheet if not for a critical last-ditch intervention from Bheke. They've shown themselves to be valuable outlets in transition, and took advantage of a lot of Indian sloppiness last week. If Afghanistan are to eke out a famous result in this one, that partnership between these two up top will likely be an important factor. The Predicted XIs India XI (4-2-3-1): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK); Nikhil Poojary, Rahul Bheke, Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose; Suresh Singh, Lalengmawia Ralte; Lallianzuala Chhangte, Brandon Fernandes, Mahesh Singh; Sunil Chhetri India looked a better side with Brandon Fernandes on the field on Thursday night, so youngster Vikram Partap Singh could make way for him. Manvir Singh had a torrid night in front of goal, so he could be replaced by Mahesh Singh, with quick transitions and movements likely to be the way for India to break down the Afghan defence. Afghanistan (3-5-2): Ovayz Azizi (GK); Mahboob Hanifi, Zohib Amiri, Habibullah Askar; Mosawer Ahadi, Rahmat Akbari, Sharif Mukhammad, Zelfi Nazary, Taufee Skandari; Omid Popalzai, Jabar Sharza Westwood doesn't have much reason to change system or personnel from a lineup that worked so well at nullifying India and even giving themselves a consistent attacking threat. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Afghanistan going in with an unchanged lineup.