Lionel Messi’s career halved

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Lionel Messi is undoubtedly one of the best football players to ever play the game.  His ability with the ball at his feet has fail to find an adequate competitor, no one in the history of the sport has matched Messi’s style, skill, statistics and success.

The first decade of Lionel Messi saw him burst onto the scene for Barcelona as a teenager.  As his role evolved under Pep Guardiola, he became the best player on the planet. In the first ten years of his career Messi scored 394 goals and provided 154 assists in 513 appearances.  This includes a record of the most goals scored  in a single calendar year.  Gerd Muller’s record was broken when Messi hit 91 in 2012.

During this same period he was the recipient of four Ballon d’Ors and won 23 trophies, including six La Liga titles and  three UEFA Champions League trophies.  At just 26-years-old, Messi had achieved more than any player could dream in just 10 years.

In the decade following Lionel Messi’s career is far from over.  In the second half of his career, from 2014 until the present day, you could argue he has only gotten better with age.

Since 2014, Messi has scored 421 goals and provided 203 assists in 520 appearances.  He has won 20 trophies, adding four more La Liga titles, his fourth UEFA Champions League, a COPA America and the biggest prize of them all, the FIFA World Cup.  He has won three more Balon d’Ors, taking his total to a record holding seven.

20 years, 815 goals, 357 assists, seven Baldon d’Ors and more than 40 trophies, Lionel Messi has the numbers and awards cementing his status arguably the greatest to ever play the game.

Photo: twitter @AmeyaJirage

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Dylan Johnson