As Lionel Messi digests his historic Ballon d’Or feat as the king of world football for the fourth consecutive year, he has taken the time to thank Gerd Müller.
Thanks to a brace against Real Betis in La Liga on 9 December 2012, the Argentine broke Gerd Müller’s 40-year record of 85 goals in a calendar year.
Messi went on to add a few more strikes to his astonishing tally before the Christmas break. He finished the year 2012 with a total of 91 goals. Offering respect to Germany’s former goal poacher, Argentina’s Lionel Messi issued a signed shirt which reads:
“For Gerd Muller, with my respect and admiration. A hug. Leo”
On January 7, the Barcelona man racked up 41.6% of the votes to scoop his fourth Ballon d’Or award in Zurich, Switzerland. Messi will have the opportunity to continue his goal scoring spree this Thursday as Barcelona welcome Cordoba in the Spanish Copa del Rey.
The Round of 16 second leg fixture will see Tito Vilanova’s assistant, Jordi Roura, in the dugout. The latter is the latest to praise La Pulga in public. Roura today declared in a press conference ahead of the Cordoba encounter:
“We have to appreciate the importance of what he [Lionel Messi] has done. He has made history.
“It's an enormous achievement [to win four Ballon d'Or awards and score 91 goals].
“However, when you see him every day and see how natural it comes to him and how normal he is, you forget how great he is. We have to take our hats off to him.”
Messi went on to add a few more strikes to his astonishing tally before the Christmas break. He finished the year 2012 with a total of 91 goals. Offering respect to Germany’s former goal poacher, Argentina’s Lionel Messi issued a signed shirt which reads:
“For Gerd Muller, with my respect and admiration. A hug. Leo”
On January 7, the Barcelona man racked up 41.6% of the votes to scoop his fourth Ballon d’Or award in Zurich, Switzerland. Messi will have the opportunity to continue his goal scoring spree this Thursday as Barcelona welcome Cordoba in the Spanish Copa del Rey.
The Round of 16 second leg fixture will see Tito Vilanova’s assistant, Jordi Roura, in the dugout. The latter is the latest to praise La Pulga in public. Roura today declared in a press conference ahead of the Cordoba encounter:
“We have to appreciate the importance of what he [Lionel Messi] has done. He has made history.
“It's an enormous achievement [to win four Ballon d'Or awards and score 91 goals].
“However, when you see him every day and see how natural it comes to him and how normal he is, you forget how great he is. We have to take our hats off to him.”
