Lionel Messi

 Lionel Andres Messi [note 1] is an Argentine professional footballer. He plays forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, and also captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the best players ever, Messi has won a record seven Ballon d'Or awards,[note 2] an unprecedented six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team. He played his entire professional career at Barcelona until his departure from the club in 2021. He won a club record 35 trophies including 10 La Liga titles as well as seven Copa del Rey titles. Messi is an incredibly prolific goal scorer and inventive playmaker. He holds records for the most goals scored during La Liga (474), the highest number of goals scored in the European league season (50) as well as the most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) or the UEFA Champions League (8) and also the highest number of assists in La Liga (192, 21 and 17). The record for the highest number of international goals scored by a South American male is also held by Messi (91). Messi holds the record for the most international goals scored by a South American male (91). He became an integral player for Barcelona within three years and in his first uninterrupted season in 2008-09 , he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. In that same year, aged 22, Messi was awarded his first Ballon d'Or. After three seasons of great success, Messi won four consecutive Ballons d'Ors, becoming the first person to receive the award for four consecutive years. He was also the all-time leading scorer for Barcelona's La Liga, European and European goals. Following his second place finish in the Ballon d'Or, Messi was second behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his thought-to be his rival in the game. Then he came back to his peak during the 2014-15 campaign and became the all-time top scorer in La Liga. This led to a record-breaking second treble for Barcelona that brought him to the fifth Ballon d'Or. In the year 2018 Messi was named captain of Barcelona. He received a record sixth Ballon d'Or in 2019. He signed his contract in August 2021 for Paris Saint-Germain, but this was not a contract.