- Argentine finally won the World Cup in 2022
- Collected major honours on a regular basis at club level
- Sits alongside the best to ever play the game
WHAT HAPPENED? The Argentine icon, who is about to open a new chapter in his club career with MLS side Inter Miami, finally got the chance to savour World Cup glory at Qatar 2022. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was in inspired form for his country at that event, with a global crown added to the collection of domestic and European honours that he has picked up down the years with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Former Blaugrana and Netherlands star Kluivert believes that Messi can now claim to be football’s GOAT, with the mercurial South American going above and beyond what anybody else has achieved in the game.
WHAT THEY SAID: Kluivert has told johnnybet.com: “With all due respect to Diego Maradona, Pele and Johan Cruyff, and to all the other legends of the game, what Messi has achieved makes him the greatest player ever. He’s won the World Cup, Copa America and I don’t even know how many Champions League trophies - he’s won all the trophies a footballer could ever want to win. And there’s the personal prizes he has won as well. I consider Messi as one of, if not the greatest ever.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Messi has won the Champions League on four occasions, and the Liga title was secured on 10 occasions during his time at Barcelona. A further two domestic titles were landed while on the books at Ligue 1 giants PSG, and he helped Argentina to a long-awaited Copa America triumph in 2021.
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WHAT NEXT? Messi has registered over 800 goals in his remarkable career for club and country, breaking countless records along the way, and will be hoping to maintain seemingly unworldly standards when making his way to the United States as a free agent this summer.