Lionel Messi’s top 10 career moments from Barcelona to Argentina

Lionel Messi is a man who needs no introduction. After lifting the World Cup with Argentina last winter, he has accomplished all there is to accomplish in the world’s most global game. Many, including this writer, would argue vehemently that he is the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of soccer cleats.

The stats back it up. He has won the Ballon d’Or (world player of the year) a record seven times, broken countless individual scoring records, and won 43 team trophies between Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Argentina. On Tuesday, the diminutive superstar will play at Subaru Park for the first time, as he leads Inter Miami against the Union in the semifinals of the Leagues Cup.

But in a career full of highlights, what moments stand above the rest? In honor of Messi Mania in Philly, we sifted through the Argentine’s unparalleled career to narrow it down to his 10 greatest moments.

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Messi is not the biggest at 5-foot-7 or the most athletic, but his greatness is predicated on skill and his brain. That skill often leads to him bamboozling opposing defenders and making them look foolish. He did just that in the 2015 Champions League semifinals, dropping Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng to the ground with a crossover that Allen Iverson would have been proud of.

After missing the 2006 Champions League Final due to a torn hamstring, Messi made his debut in club football’s biggest game three years later. To mark the occasion, he scored Barcelona’s second goal, rising high and hanging in the air for a rare header in a 2-0 win over Manchester United. He would go on to win his first Ballon d’Or that season.

Messi has 57 career hat tricks, but his first can be looked back on as his coming out party given his age, the occasion, and the opponent. A 19-year-old firing a hat trick against rival Real Madrid in El Clásico ... talk about a flair for the dramatic. To make the feat more impressive, Barcelona trailed three times in the game, Messi answering Los Blancos’ goals each time, including a dramatic 91st-minute equalizer.

What is Messi’s best-ever goal? This one against Getafe in the Copa del Rey has my vote. Messi picks up the ball in his own half, cuts the ball around one defender, nutmegs another, and then makes a driving run up the middle of the field. He deftly slaloms through two more defenders with close control before rounding the goalkeeper and scoring from a tight angle.

The goal was eerily similar to one scored by Messi’s countryman, Diego Maradona, who scored what was later billed the “Goal of the Century” against England at the 1986 World Cup.

Scoring one goal in the Championship League is hard enough. Scoring three is a rarity. Scoring five had never happened before Messi took the field against German opposition Bayer Leverkusen in 2012.

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Ninety minutes later and Messi had accomplished the feat with two scrumptious chips, an angled dart into the far corner, a rebound from a tight angle, and a curled blast from outside the box. A performance for the ages.

Given that he moved from Argentina to Spain to play for Barcelona at age 13, Messi has always had a complicated relationship with the country of his birth. Throughout the years, as Messi’s star continued to rise in Europe, some Argentines grew frustrated that Messi could not replicate the same individual brilliance or team success with the national team. Not including an Olympic gold (an under-23 competition), he had never delivered Argentina a major championship.

Two summers ago, Messi finally got the monkey off his back, helping Argentina win South America’s championship, the Copa America. Afterward, he looked like a man who on one hand was elated and on the other was relieved. It was a crowning achievement for an all-time great on behalf of his national team, but soon it would be outdone in Qatar.

The Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo debate has occupied much of the last 15 years in soccer circles. With both tied with five Ballon d’Ors, Messi pulled ahead for good with his win in 2019. He has since added another in 2021, and is all but a lock to take home No. 8 this December following his triumph at the World Cup.

While Messi has had bigger accomplishments both individually and collectively, this goal, performance, and celebration is likely the most iconic moment of the Argentine superstar’s career.

Tied 2-2 with Real Madrid in one of the best-ever Clásicos, Messi fired in the game-winner in the 92nd minute to stun Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu. Messi’s second goal of the game was his 500th career goal for Barcelona and he celebrated by taking off his jersey and holding it up with his name and number facing the opposing fans. He was given a yellow card by rule, but that was a small price to pay for an all-time moment and troll job.

Messi has had what many would consider a dozen career seasons. But 2012 is not only his best statistical year but his absolute peak. In 69 games for club and country, Messi racked up a video-game-like 91 goals (79 with Barcelona and 12 with Argentina). In the process, he broke what was once considered unbreakable record of 85 goals in a calendar year by West Germany and Bayern Munich’s Gerd Müller in 1972.

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Messi’s peak lasted much longer than one season, but 2012 was a season that may never be matched again.

It took nearly 20 years, but Messi finally silenced his remaining critics in December, leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar. He didn’t do it as a pedestrian, either, scoring two goals and converting his penalty kick in the final against France. It was a virtuoso performance from the 35-year-old, who turned back the clock to produce an all-time showing on the world’s biggest stage to deliver Argentina its first World Cup in 36 years. In doing so, he all but ended the G.O.A.T. debate and elevated from superstar to deity in his homeland.