Leo Messi he put it forward during his farewell press conference at FC Barcelona: he is aiming for the record of his great friend Dani Alves. Although he has nothing more to prove, the Argentinian genius wants to become the most successful footballer of all time.
“By the way, I congratulate Dani Alves, who won the Olympic medal, I am very close to him (number of titles). And I will fight to reach him or exceed him if possible. That is my mentality, and it was always to be in this club, always wanting more, wanting to win (…) My idea is to keep competing and keep winning”.
HOW MANY TITLES DO YOU NEED TO MEET DANI ALVES?
In recent months, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has picked up a few more trophies. He won the Champions Cup organized by UEFA and CONMEBOL and later won the French Super Cup. In both meetings he was a figure, by the way.
In this way, Lio reached 41 titles in his brilliant professional career: 35 with FC Barcelona, 2 with Argentina, 2 with PSG, 1 with Argentina U23 and 1 with Argentina U20.
- FC Barcelona: 35 titles (10 Leagues, 7 Copa del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 4 UEFA Champions League, 3 European Super Cups and 3 Club World Cups).
- PSG: 2 titles (Ligue 1 and Supercoupe de France).
- Argentina U20: 1 title (World Cup).
- Argentina U23: 1 title (gold medal at the Olympic Games).
- Argentina senior national team: 2 titles (Copa America and Copa de Campeones).
Dani Alves, for his part, celebrated 43 trophies. That’s to say: He has an advantage of only 2 titles compared to the partner with whom he won everything at FC Barcelona.
- Bay: 1 title (Copa do Nordeste).
- Seville: 5 titles (1 Copa del Rey, 1 Spanish Super Cup, 2 UEFA Cups, 1 European Super Cup).
- FCBarcelona: 23 titles (6 Leagues, 4 Copa del Rey, 4 Spanish Super Cups, 3 UEFA Champions League, 3 European Super Cups and 3 Club World Cups).
- Juventus: 2 titles (1 Serie A and 1 Coppa Italia).
- PSG: 5 titles (2 Ligue 1, 1 Coupe de France, 1 Super Coupe de France and 1 Coupe de la Ligue.).
- Sao Paulo: 1 title (paulista championship).
- Brazil U20: 1 title (World Cup).
- Brazil U23 (reinforcement): 1 title (gold medal at the Olympic Games).
- Brazil Senior National Team: 4 titles (2 America’s Cups and 2 Confederations Cups).
CONTROVERSY BY CRITERIA
There is some controversy in the title debate as not all venues and clubs have the same criteria. For example, there are people who think that the U20 and U23 trophies should not be counted and, in addition, there are those who think that only successes in which the player has been called up should be counted (the debate arises as FC Barcelona credit Messi with winning the 2005 Spanish Super Cup as, although not mentioned, he was part of the squad).
To this was added the theme of La Finalissima. And it is that FIFA, despite the fact that it is a final organized by CONMEBOL and UEFA, gave it the coefficient -in its classification- of a friendly match. For some, that shouldn’t be part of that count. For others, the fact that it is valued by organizations in Europe and America is more than enough to consider it official.
Anyway, as there are no specific rules to follow, the most accepted record is 43 to 41. Even Dani Alves is spreading infographics and images in which he claims to have won 43 titles all through throughout his career (he himself accredits 43 trophies).
Undefeated data. In addition to being close to this colossal list of collective successes, Lionel Messi is the player with the most Ballon d’Or (7), the most Golden Shoes (6) and the most Best Game Builder awards. (4). The most complete footballer in history.
Did you know that…? Lionel Messi totals 770 goals and 331 assists in 975 games at senior level (FC Barcelona, PSG and senior team). More direct participation in scoring than in games. Not even at FIFA.
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