He is as prolific in scoring goals, as he is in breaking old records or setting new ones. It does not end there. He is also very good at winning trophies and getting paid handsomely for winning them!
He is called Lionel Messi, the Argentine maestro who struts the global football firmament like a colossus.
He has been described as football's greatest despite comparisms with his eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, over the years, on account of what he has achieved in the sport.
With over 40 trophies and counting, Messi has nothing more to prove in order to be described as one of greatest players to play the game.
He is known to talk much. He let's his feet, which he deploys to devastating effect, do the talking. He is currently the toast of fans, and celebrities alike, as he ignites the Major League Soccer(MLS) with his brand of football, scoring breathtaking goals and posting performances that belie his petite frame for Inter Miami, the club owned by David Beckham.
Eleven goals in 13 appearances since joining the American club from PSG in the summer tells the story of a man who may be ageing but still packs enough ferocity in his boots to keep confounding even his most virulent critics.
But for injury that halted his brilliant start to life in the MLS, Messi and his team would by now be in the playoffs.
But he recently announced his return when he once again scored for Argentina in a South American World Cup qualifier.
Barcelona's all-time highest goalscorer with 672 goals in 778 appearances, and who also holds the record as Argentina's all-time top scorer with 106 goals in 178 appearances, produced pure magic to score the two goals that gave the Albiceleste victory over Peru away in Lima.
Messi, 36, opened the scoring 32 minutes into their game with the Peruvians before putting the game beyond their opponents with a second with a spectacular finish moments later.
The brace took his total tally in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers to 31, surpassing Luis Suarez's 29 for Uruguay.
His current form, just like Ronaldo's, gives impetus to suggestions that he is very much in the frame as he targets another appearance -- probably his last -- in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With an 8th Ballon D'or award set to be handed him soon for his heroics in the last World Cup in Qatar, there can be no further incentive for the man who has continued to defy the odds to rule the sport.
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