Lionel Messi becomes most decorated footballer with 44 career trophies

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami beat Nashville SC in Leagues Cup final

Lionel Messi may have left European football behind, but one attribute that follows him no matter where he plays is his inclination to break records and reach milestones unscaled before.

Lionel Messi already has umpteen records already to his name. He is both Barcelona’s and LaLiga’s most prolific goal scorer. Although his forced move to PSG and his time in Paris were mostly discussed due to non-footballing reasons, he was still prolific for them. Messi ended his last season with PSG as their top creator.

All of these achievements have brought about numerous accolades for the Argentine legend. Before coming to Miami, Lionel Messi already had 43 trophies to his name. 35 of which came with his time at Barcelona; three of them came during his time in Paris; two of which came with the Argentina U23 and U20 sides; and three with the Argentina national team, including the coveted FIFA World Cup.

His Leagues Cup win with Inter Miami has become his 44th career trophy, the most won by any footballer in history. He is followed by former Barcelona teammate Dani Alves, who has won 43 career trophies.

Although he has made just seven appearances for them, Messi has been more than prolific for Inter Miami. He has netted 10 times for the Herons and is already their third-highest goal scorer of all time. The list is currently topped by Messi’s fellow Argentine, Gonzalo Higuain, who scored 29 goals in over 70 appearances.

The League Cup final against Nashville SC saw Lionel Messi open the scoring for Inter Miami when, in true Messi fashion, he dribbled past defenders to create space at the edge of the penalty box and scored from a distance of 11 yards in the 23rd minute. This was followed by an equaliser from Nashville SC’s Fafa Picault in the 57th minute.

The game went into extra time and eventually into penalties. Inter Miami won the long-drawn penalty battle 9-10. Inter Miami’s win in the Leagues Cup marks the first trophy won by the club in their history.