Lionel Messi's football journey till now

By Ivy Sarkar 

OCTOBER, 2004 La Liga debut

Lionel Messi makes his official league debut for Barcelona, coming on as a substitute late in the game. against Espanyol at the age of 17 years, 3 months, and 22 days old.

AUGUST, 2005 International debut

Messi makes his debut for Argentina in a friendly against Hungary at the age of 18, coming on in the 63rd minute.

JUNE, 2006 World Cup debut

Messi becomes the youngest-ever player to represent Argentina at the World Cup. He scores the final goal in a 6-0 win, becoming the youngest scorer at the tournament

AUGUST, 2008 Olympic gold

Lining up in an all-star Argentina side, featuring fellow youngsters Sergio Aguero and Angel di Maria, Argentina wins every match on their way to securing the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics

MAY, 2009 Champions League success

He finishes the campaign as the tournament's top scorer and nets in the final against Manchester United in a 2-0 win. He’s won a career total of four European titles to date.

DECEMBER, 2009 First Ballon d’Or

Having inspired Barcelona to an historic treble in the same year -- it won the league, domestic cup and Champions League -- Messi is officially named the best player in the world for the first time.

MARCH, 2012 Barcelona scoring record

Goals just keep coming for the magician at club level and, at just 24, he breaks Barcelona’s scoring record previously held by Cesar Rodriguez.

NOVEMBER, 2014 La Liga scoring record

Messi breaks Telmo Zarra's La Liga record of 251 goals. Once again, Messi produces a hat-trick against Sevilla. He currently has 444 goals and 10 league titles to his name.

DECEMBER, 2019 Record Ballon d’Or wins

Messi’s club statistics over his career can only be challenged by one man, Cristiano Ronaldo. The pair practically share the Ballon d’Or award for a decade but, in 2019, Messi wins it for a record sixth time.

july, 2021 Argentina's Copa America triumph

Messi was the standout player from the campaign as he finished as the top goalscorer (4) and the top assist provider (5) in the competition. It was Argentina's first major title since 1993.

july, 2021  Barcelona career comes to an end

Leaving Barcelona after 20 years with the club will probably go down as one of the greatest moments in his career. He has won 35 trophies with them, with the first one being La Liga in 2005 and the last one being Copa del Rey in 2021.

Seventh Ballon d'Or for Lionel Messi

There could not have been a better way for Lionel Messi to end 2021 than lifting the Ballon d'Or for the seventh time in his career. Messi fought off tough competition against Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski 

finalissima

Argentina marked the revival of the Cup of Champions outclass Italy 3-0 in the clash billed as the 'Finalissima'

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