Three challenges that remain for Lionel Messi to conquer before he retires
There is not much to say about Lionel Messi that the world doesn't already know. The Argentine maestro has established his status as a legend in the history of football and recently concluded one of his best individual seasons, tallying a staggering 51 goals in all competitions for the Blaugrana.
Coming through the doors of La Masia, the forward made his competitive debut in 2004 and has since played a key role in Barcelona for fifteen years, earning himself the tag of a one-club man.
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At 32, Messi has lifted a whopping 30 trophies with Barcelona including four Champions League titles, ten La Liga trophies, six Copa del Reys, eight Spanish Super Cups, and three UEFA Super Cups. Internationally, the Blaugrana captain is yet to win a major title with the Argentina national team, a shortcoming that he is often criticized for.
Furthermore, the Argentina international has broken several records in terms of individual trophies. He recently broke his own record to become the only player to have won six European Golden Shoes by netting 36 goals in the 2018-19 season of La Liga. The same campaign saw him go level with Atletico Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra to win his record sixth Pichichi trophy. In addition to that, he shares the record for the most Ballon d'Or wins (5) with Cristiano Ronaldo.
As we move closer to the end of the Messi era, we take a look at three of the many challenges that still await him before he hangs up his boots.
#3 Become the Champions League's all-time top-scorer
The record for the most number of goals in the history of the Champions League is held by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese ace has netted 126 goals in the European competition.
Messi, on the other hand, has tallied 112 goals in the Champions League and isn't far behind in the race for the top spot of the goal-scoring charts.
Of course, Ronaldo will continue to increase his tally as he maintains his exploits for Juventus, and it remains to be seen whether Messi will acrpass the all-time tally by the time he retires.