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Lionel Messi has been in scintillating form for Barcelona this season. He has scored 12 goals and provided 6 assists in his 12 games played. It has been the same story for Messi with Barcelona for the past 10 years.
The Argentina international has won all laurels in his career with Barcelona, and he is arguably regarded as the greatest player to ever grace the football pitch.
However, it's not just roses and petals for the Blaugrana legend. He has been heavily denounced by many critics for his inefficiency in making Argentina an international power house in football. Under Messi, Argentina has failed to win any major trophy in the past 8 years, which includes two World Cups.
Diego Maradona recently has criticised Lionel Messi, saying the striker is not a leader on the pitch for his national team, and should not be regarded as a footballing god.
Messi has given everything to this beautiful game. However, his fans would love to see him achieve the below feats before he retires from football.
#1 Beat Cristiano Ronaldo in the Ballon d'Or race
Fans consider the Ballon d'Or award as one key criterion for choosing the best between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The Ballon d'Or race between Messi and Ronaldo started in 2008. It has been 10 years since then. Messi has won five, Ronaldo has won five.
Messi was sitting comfortably at the top, leading Ronaldo by 4 -1. However, Real Madrid's dominance in the past five Champions League seasons have seen the Portuguese captain win the Ballon d'Or 4 times in the last five years.
Though Messi claims that the Ballon d'Or is no longer his priority, and he would rather have more Champions League medals, Messi's fans are relentless. They want their champion to be number 1 on the Ballon d'Or award list of winners when he retires.
#2 Win a World cup with Argentina
Lionel Messi has virtually won everything with Barcelona, but has never won the World Cup for his nation. The 31 year old will get one last chance in 2022 to win a World Cup.
However, he has asked the Argentina selection committee not to consider his name for national selection for the next one year. When asked about his exclusion, Argentina coach Scaloni said, "I hope Messi is in the future, he is the best player in the world".
Messi had once announced his retirement, following their loss to Chile in the 2016 Copa America final, although the Barcelona superstar changed his decision after thousands of supporters launched - Don't go Messi campaign.
Will he come back? That's a million dollar question. Ideally, for all fans, he should come back for one last stint.
There are few speculations that he will be back to the national side for next year's Copa America.
Winning the World Cup is not just his fans' wish, it's Messi's too. Can he do it in four years time?
#3 Win a league title by playing for a side other than Barcelona
Messi couldn't replicate his Barcelona success at Argentina. This leads to a simple question,
Can Messi wave his magic wand only for Barcelona?
Messi fans would love to see him play in other competitive European leagues like the Premier League, Serie A, or Bundesliga at some point in his career, to prove the haters wrong that he is not just a Camp Nou bully.
Playing in other leagues may help Messi expand his game knowledge further. Like playing in the Premier League will help Messi adjust to a physical style of game play, which may also provide him a new dimension in his international career.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been lauded by many as one of the most versatile players ever, as he has dominated two leagues so far. His move to Serie A from LaLiga has not hampered his success.
Will Messi do a Ronaldo?
#4 1000 goals for club and country
Scoring 1000 goals will be the most unrealistic expectation from fans on Messi. Messi so far has scored 629 goals from 777 appearances. He is just 31 years old.
Pele scored 1000+ goals, and there are many claims that the facts are not accurate.
Messi has five to six years left in his career. If he continues to perform the way he is performing now, he may reach the magical mark of 1000 goals by the end of his career. He is not prone to serious injury because of his game style, and that is a huge bonus for him.
Messi in 2012 scored a record 91 goals. All he needs is two good years like 2012. Messi has defied logic to become arguably football's greatest player of all time.
He has started his 2018-19 with a bang. He is right on course towards the 1000 goal mark.
Can he pull off this miraculous feat?
#5 Win FIFA Puskas award
The FIFA Puskas award is one of the very few prestigious awards missing from Messi's cabinet. Puskas award is a yearly award given to a player who scores the most beautiful goal of the year.
Messi who is the most elegant player on the planet has got himself nominated for this award five out of nine times. Unfortunately, he hasn't won this award even once. His colleagues like Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, James Rodriguez, and Olivier Giroud have won the award already.
You must not have forgotten Zlatan's overhead kick, or Giroud's scorpion kick which won them this award.
Messi came agonisingly close to winning the award in 2015. However, his goal was adjudged second best to Wendell's goal.
His fans would like to see him win this award as it adds another feather to La Pulga's already decorated hat.
