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During a stellar career for club and country that's lasted longer than a decade and a half, Lionel Messi has conquered many a football peak and amassed numerous records.
The all-time LaLiga top-scorer since 2014, Messi's 8 Liga titles for Barcelona is the most by any player in the Spanish top-flight. Also, his 114 Champions League goals for the Catalan club is a record tally of goals scored by a player for one club.
Messi is the first player to score in 16 consecutive Liga seasons, a record subsequently equaled by Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos. The Argentinian is also the first to score against 34 different opposition teams in the Champions League.
The all-time top-scorer for Barcelona has scored the most league goals by any player during the decade that was 2010-2019, while scoring 50 or more goals in a calendar year in all but one year during this period.
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An underwhelming goal-return in Argentina colors and the conspicuous absence of a senior international trophy are the only blots in the brilliant canvas of Messi's club career.
Despite his staggering achievements during the course of his hugely successful career though, the following milestones may always remain elusive for the record 6-time Ballon d'Or winner:
#1 Scoring a Champions League final hat-trick
Messi has appeared in 3 Champions League finals for Barcelona (2009, 2011, 2015), while he was an unused substitute in 2006. He scored in Barcelona's 2009 and 2011 Champions League final wins over Manchester United.
Barcelona have not reached a Champions League final since their latest triumph in the competition in 2015. The Catalan club (who have reached the Round of 16 in 2019-20) need to reach the title match for Messi to try and become the first player in the Champions League era to score a hat-trick in the final.
Considering the recent European fallibility of Barcelona, particularly in two-legged knockout ties, and the fact that no final in the Champions League era (1992-93 onward) has featured a hat-trick, this milestone could be beyond the reach of Messi.
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#2 Winning a major international trophy for Argentina
Messi has taken part in four FIFA World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018) and five Copa America tournaments (2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018) for Argentina. On three occasions (2014 World Cup and 2015-16 Copa America), Argentina reached the title match, but they faltered - against Germany (2014 World Cup) and Chile (2015-16 Copa America) respectively.
The 2020 Copa America in his native Argentina and Ecuador perhaps represents the best opportunity for Messi to win an elusive major international title for his national team.
Considering his underwhelming return of one goal in six games at the 2019 Copa America, a title run at the Copa next year, even on home soil, may be a very tall task to accomplish for Messi and co.
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#3 Scoring for 2 different winning teams in Champions League final
Club-record scorer Messi has expressed his 'happiness' playing for Barcelona on numerous occasions. The possibility of the diminutive Argentinian turning up for another club during the course of his active career, much less score in a Champions League final for a club not named Barcelona, is very low.
Messi is still scoring at a prolific pace for the Blaugrana, and still winning titles. Thus, it may safely be surmised that despite no apparent dearth of suitors, Messi and Barcelona are unlikely to part company any time soon.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains the only player in Champions League history to have scored for two winning sides in the final (Manchester United in 2008, Real Madrid in 2014 and 2017).
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