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What is the story?
Barcelona ace Lionel Messi has been honoured with the Creu de Sant Jordi award, which is regarded as one of the highest civilian awards in Spain.
In case you didn’t know….
Messi has played a huge role in Barcelona’s success over the last decade or so. Since his debut in 2004 under Frank Rijkaard, Messi helped Barcelona to claim 34 trophies with a potential two more to add in his already incredible trophy cabinet, while Real Madrid has only able to win 20 titles, since then.
Before Messi’s debut, Real Madrid were the undisputed kings of Spain, as they housed 69 titles whilst Barcelona had only 54. But things have changed drastically since then. Leo has helped Barcelona to almost equalize Madrid’s illustrious trophy cabinet of 89 trophies with Barcelona’s 88 titles.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is also the leading scorer in clubs history with 597 goals in across all the competitions for the Catalan giants and is on course to break Pelé’s world record of 643 goals in Santos colours.
However, in this campaign, Barcelona captain has been in his scintillating best throughout. With 34 goals in the league, Messi has already secured Barcelona’s 26th La Liga crown. Meanwhile in Europe, Messi is leading the scoring chart with 10 goals to his name and would love to lead Barcelona to another Champions League glory.
The heart of the matter…
The "Creu de Sant Jordi" award was created in 1981, is regarded as one of the highest civilian awards in Spain.
Messi has been awarded with the prestigious honour for his outstanding achievements with Barcelona throughout his career and for his services in Catalonia's identity.
Messi has become the second footballer in history to receive this great honour, as another Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff already received the award back in 2006.
What’s Next?
Barcelona will be hoping for another Messi masterclass, when they will host Liverpool at the Camp Nou in the first leg of colossal Champions League semi-final clash.
