Club football has become far too easy for Barcelona’s mercurial forward who has broken almost every record there is. If there is one that he is yet to surpass, it is inevitable that he will soon break it.
He is the only player to have won the prestigious Ballon D’or award a record four times and with the way he is progressing it will not be surprising if he registers a fifth under his name. Last season he surpassed Paulino Alcántara who had since 1927 held the record for scoring the highest number of goals for Barcelona in all competitions. He became the first player to score five goals in a single Champions League game and is also the youngest player to have reached 150 La Liga goals.
In 2012 the little maestro recorded an impressive tally of 86 goals thereby breaking the record set by Gerd Muller back in 1972 for scoring the most number of goals in a single calendar year.
How Messi broke Gerd Mueller's record
And added more to it to end the calendar year with 91 goals
Needless to say when the 27 year old hangs up his boots he will be regarded as one of the finest players to have graced the game. However there is a growing argument that in order to be recognized in the list of greats, it is very vital that Messi wins the World Cup.
Whereas that argument might be invalid since Messi’s undeniable quality cannot be questioned, however should La Pulga successfully guide his team to the World Cup crown on Sunday night it would further galvanize his already glorified reputation.
Last time Argentina became World Champions was back in 1986. At that time La Albiceleste were led by arguably one of the most talented players to have ever graced the game. Diego Maradona was named the best player of the tournament and it was his spectacular pass to Jorge Burruchaga which proved to be decisive as Argentina scored late in the game to win the title.
Argentina will need a similar kind of performance from their star man Messi who is more than capable of producing awe-inspiring moments for his team. If he manages to lead his team from the front and help them win football’s biggest prize, it is certain that he will be recognized as one of the finest players to have ever played the game.
