5 players with whom Lionel Messi has combined with for most goals (club + country)
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of all time. He has won football's most prestigious individual prize, the Ballon d'Or, a record seven times. The Argentinian international has had an extremely illustrious career and is still going strong at the age of 34.
Until the summer of 2021, Lionel Messi had played for just a single club. He was a Barcelona lad through and through and is inarguably the greatest player ever to have turned out for the Catalans. For a club that has housed some of the greatest players of all time, that is saying something.
Lionel Messi has always played alongside the best in the business
Messi has had the chance to play with some of the best footballers of his generation for both club and country. He has also formed wonderful partnerships with other forwards and midfielders.
Without any further ado, let's take a look at the five players that Messi has combined with for the most goals (club + country).
#5 Dani Alves - 48 goals
Oh man, just how good were Dani Alves and Lionel Messi down the right flank for Barcelona during their heydey? Alves is considered one of the greatest full-backs of all time. The Brazilian is a joy to watch and is one of the most technically gifted players of the modern era.
He shared a telepathic understanding with Messi. The two would combine for little give-and-gos and run rings around the opposition. Messi and Alves always looked like they could foresee what each other were going to do.
It helped Barcelona immensely as they dominated European football in the late 2000s and the first half of the 2010s. Alves and Messi have combined to score 48 goals. The two are great friends. In a 2018 interview, Alves said:
"We worked on that bond. We were getting along better and better. We understood how the other was playing, when and how to play."
#4 Andres Iniesta - 53 goals
Together, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta were pure magic on the football ground. They are two of the most technically proficient and naturally gifted footballers on the planet and the two have won a ridiculous number of titles together.
Iniesta could weave his way past the tightest cul-de-sac, upend entire defences with one drop of the shoulder and deliver passes others couldn't even conceive. Iniesta and Messi won the continental treble twice with Barcelona, first in 2008-09 and then in 2014-15.
The duo of Messi and Iniesta combined to score 53 goals in their time together at Barcelona.
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