I don’t know how long this young man will rule the world of football but something keeps telling me his best is yet to come, hence we ain’t see anything yet from Messi’s bag of tricks or magic. He began his senior career in the 2004/2005 season with F.C Barcelona but couldn’t breakthrough into the regular team not until the 2006/2007 season (we can say the 2011/2012 season is Messi’s official 6th year with Barcelona, because he only managed to score a total of 9 goals in all competitions in his first two seasons with Barcelona). Right from the 2006/2007 season up till now Messi has been the darling of many hearts in the world of football even claiming his second straight enlistment in the elite list of TIME’s Magazine 100 most influential personality (2011 and 2012), a pointer to his global appeal status. He is a wonder to watch on the field, he has broken many records and set new ones and the amazing thing about this unassuming personality is that he is just 25 years old. Many critics have argued that we are already looking at the new “King of Football” that it’s just a question of time when this reality would have been clearly spelt out. I understand the fact that he was privileged to be in the right club that suits his playing style but I will continue to say it loud and clear that put Messi anywhere football is played he will still distinguish himself (this I know when you watch him play for Argentina where there are no Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets). He is incredibly and frighteningly disciplined both on and off the pitch something rare among many of his peers. Messi is in his 8th year of professional football and he has amassed the following awards at just 25; 19 silverwares with Barcelona, 3 silverwares with country and 76 individual honours bringing his total honours to 98 with at least 12 years still to play football I am afraid by the time Messi will be hanging his boot he may go down in history as the all time best footballer in the history of the game no doubt! His closest rival, Cristiano Ronaldo statistics so far in his 10 years of professional football stood at; 9 silverwares with Manchester United, 2 silverwares with Real Madrid, no silverware with country and 57 individual honours bringing his total to 68, now you know what I am talking about.
What has been on for some time now is, who will win the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the 2011/2012 season, definitely there is no basis for argument the clear answer is MESSI! He turned the season into a year of “breaking and setting records in the world of club football” thereby making the season his personal year. Messi needs no contention either from the ongoing European competitions or any other events be it the Olympics to claim his straight 4 FIFA Ballon d’Or this season (mark my words)! Messi is to football what Michael Jordan is to Basketball, Michael Jackson is to Music, Michelangelo is to painting, and William Shakespeare is to the world of writing. He is simply out of this world; just a look at his stunning records this season below will prove his invincibility to you;
1. His 73 goals for Barcelona in all competitions is a new record anywhere club football is played in the world.
2. His 50 league goals make the first of its kind in the history of Spanish and other top flight European club football.
3. He emerged as the all time Barcelona highest goal scorer with 253 official goals.
4. He is the first and for now the only player to score 8 hat-tricks in a single league season in the history of La Liga.
5. He is the first player to be crowned top goal scorer in UEFA Champions League history 4 times in a row (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012).
6. He emerged as the only player with most goals (73) and most assists (29) in a single season in all competitions (a new record).
7. He is the first and only player for now to score 5 goals in a UEFA Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen which ended 7 -1.
8. He is the first and only player in La Liga history to score 35 goals in home games.
9. He is the first and only player to reach 100 points in the race of the European Golden Shoe Award (50 goals × 2).
10. He is the youngest player at 24 to pass the 50-goal mark in the history of UEFA Champions League.
11. He is the record holder in most goals scored in the Champions League knock-out stage with 26 goals compared to the previous record of 18 goals held by Raul and Shevchenko.
12. He emerged the all time top scorer in the Spanish super cup with 8 goals, surpassing the record of Raul’s 7 goals.
13. He scored in 10 consecutive league games (18 goals) equaling the record of Mariano Martin in 1942/1943 season.
14. He scored in 7 consecutive away league games to equal Samuel Eto’o record in the 2007/2008 season.
15. He is the 4th player in the history of Champions League (after Litmanen, Crespo and Thierry Henry) to score in 7 consecutive away games.
16. He is the first player to score 14 goals in a single Champions League season after the name and format was changed in 1992.
17. He is the youngest player (at 24 years, 270 days) to reach 150 goals in La Liga.

speechless!

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]Nice job!