Messi’s Journey in football career
Messi has been nominated for the Laureus world sports award. Lionel Messi continues to weave his magic on the field, even at the age of 35. The talismanic forward, who recently won the FIFA World Cup with Argentina, is on the brink of reaching a historic milestone in his club career. Messi, who presently has 699 goals in club football as a professional, is only one goal shy of entering the 700-goal club, which has Cristiano Ronaldo as its only member at the moment.
Messi spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, scoring a total of 672 goals in 778 games across competitions. Since joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, Messi has scored a total of 27 goals in 61 games. That brings up his tally to 699 goals in 839 games. With PSG next set to face Marseille in the Ligue 1, the Argentine will have his eyes set on the illustrious landmark.
If Messi scores against Marseille, he would become only the second footballer in history to score 700 or more goals in club football, Cristiano Ronaldo (more than 800 club goals) being the other one
In the last match for PSG, Messi scored a dramatic 95th-minute free-kick to give his side a 4-3 win over Lille in an extraordinary Ligue 1 game in which Kylian Mbappe scored twice but Neymar was taken off on a stretcher with an ankle injury.
Messi’s last-gasp winner came after PSG had squandered a two-goal lead and fallen 3-2 behind, with Mbappe grabbing a late equaliser before the Argentine’s stunning strike.
The result ends a run of three straight defeats for PSG and ensures they end the weekend as they started it, five points clear of second-placed Marseille, who won 3-2 at Toulouse and host the Parisians next.
That was his 27th goal this season in all competitions, but it was not the end of the drama as Messi won a free-kick when he was fouled just outside the area by Benjamin Andre.
Nadal’s on Laureus World sports award
Rafael Nadal has endorsed Lionel Messi to win the Laureus World Sports Awards. Along with him, Lionel Messi, Stephen Curry, Kylian Mbappe, Max Verstappen, and Mondo Duplantis.
Nadal on his Instagram story, has posted: “An honor to be nominated again to the Laureus Sportsman of the year… but… this year… let’s go Messi, you deserve it.”
In 2021, Messi lauded Nadal when he won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award back in 2021.
Previously, Nadal has said that he was supporting Argentina and Lionel Messi to win the FIFA World Cup and how he was in tears after watching Messi lifting the World Cup.
“Without supporting Argentina, when Messi lifted the trophy I was moved to tears. For the emotion of seeing someone so great achieve what he missed after suffering so much for it,” he said.
Asked about his retirement plans back in January, Nadal referenced seven-time Ballon d’Or Messi and suggested he will leave a huge void in the sporting world.
“People who like sports don’t like it when someone they admire retires. You don’t want Messi or Tiger Woods to retire. I like to see them on TV and I would like to continue watching them,” Nadal had said.
Rafael Nadal and Lionel Messi might belong to two different sporting disciplines, but there is no doubt about the fact that both of them are equally great and have revolutionized their respective sporting disciplines. Messi reached the pinnacle of his career after winning the FIFA World Cup that was played in Qatar last year. The Argentina skipper himself has been extremely vocal about how he has accomplished the biggest goal of his career and he is in no mood to retire anytime soon.
On February 20, 2023, Monday, Rafael Nadal and Lionel Messi both were announced as the nominees for the coveted Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for 2023. They were chosen alongside renowned sporting personalities such as French footballer Kylian Mbappe, Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, and American basketball player Stephen Curry. The spotlight has now shifted to Rafael Nadal who feels that Lionel Messi deserves the sward more than him for winning the World Cup in his fifth and probably his last attempt.
