Messi is expected to win the eighth Ballon d’Or in his career, when the award will be presented on October 30, 23. His best performance last season was winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, where goalkeeper Martinez also won the Golden Glove award. Messi once said the tournament in Qatar would be the last World Cup of his career. However, the Argentinian still hopes he makes it to the 2026 World Cup at the age of 39.
“Messi is the best player of all time,” Martinez said. “He has a special talent that no other player has. There will be no player like Messi in the future. We will win the Copa America next year and hopefully the 2026 World Cup.”
Messi’s personal achievements have always been outstanding. He has played 332 matches in five European competitions in the past 10 years, with 169 times winning the Player of the Match award, a rate of 50.9%, according to Whoscored. The second place is Cristiano Ronaldo with 80 honors after the game, a rate of 27.1%.
During his career, Messi played 1,028 matches, scored 807 goals and assisted 357 times. On average, each game he scored or assisted 1.13 times. Messi still has great records to conquer, like goals and goals for a national team. Ronaldo holds both records with 838 career goals and 123 goals for Portugal, but he has not stopped.
Messi is on the payroll of Inter Miami, after joining the free-form American club. He will play his first game for this team in mid-July, after the summer break. Currently, Miami is still at the bottom of the Eastern region in the MLS. There were players who played in the US, then came back to impress in Europe like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. But now Messi says he has no other goals to strive for, after winning the World Cup.
