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There will never be another Lionel Messi.

And I genuinely don’t think football fans realise how lucky we were to watch this man play in our lifetime.

Thank you, Leo.

Thank you for the goals.

Thank you for the assists.

Thank you for the impossible dribbles, the ridiculous passes, the free-kicks, the outside-of-the-boot finishes, the nutmegs, the solo runs and those moments where you somehow made 5 defenders look like they were standing still.

Thank you for making football FUN.

There was a time when you could switch on a Barcelona game simply because Messi was playing and you already knew something ridiculous was about to happen.

He didn’t just play football.

He made people fall in love with football.

And the craziest part is that the trophies almost don’t tell the full story.

🏆 1 FIFA World Cup
🏆 2 Copa América
🏆 1 Finalissima
🏆 1 Olympic Gold Medal
🏆 1 U-20 World Cup
🏆 4 Champions Leagues
🏆 10 LaLiga titles
🏆 7 Copa del Reys
🏆 8 Spanish Super Cups
🏆 3 UEFA Super Cups
🏆 3 FIFA Club World Cups
🏆 2 Ligue 1 titles
🏆 1 Trophée des Champions
🏆 1 Leagues Cup
🏆 1 Supporters’ Shield
🏆 1 MLS Cup

And individually?

🥇 8 Ballon d’Ors — RECORD
🥇 6 European Golden Shoes — RECORD
🥇 3 The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards
🥇 2 World Cup Golden Balls
🥇 8 Pichichi trophies
🥇 6 Champions League top-scorer awards
🥇 9 LaLiga MVP awards
🥇 2 Copa América MVP awards
🥇 2 Laureus Sportsman of the Year awards
🥇 4 Onze d’Or awards

And then there are the records.

91 goals in a calendar year.

Most goals for Barcelona.

Most goals in LaLiga.

Most goals in El Clásico.

Most goals for Argentina.

Most appearances for Argentina.

Most trophies won as a Barcelona player.

Most goals in a LaLiga season — 50.

Most official assists recorded in football history.

Two World Cup Golden Balls.

Eight Ballon d’Ors.

A World Cup at 35.

He has records that people will spend decades trying to break.

Some probably will never be touched.

And that’s why I’m not interested in the “Messi vs Ronaldo” arguments today.

Enjoy your favourite player.

Argue about your favourite player.

But don’t let football tribalism make you blind to what we witnessed.

We watched one of the greatest footballers who has ever lived.

Maybe THE greatest.

And yes, I know that sentence is going to annoy some people. 😂

That’s fine.

Argue with me.

Bring your stats.

Bring your agendas.

Bring your Cristiano comparisons.

Bring Maradona.

Bring Pelé.

Bring whoever you want.

Because regardless of where you rank him, you cannot erase what Lionel Messi gave football.

He gave us memories.

He gave us magic.

He gave us goals we still replay.

He gave us nights we will never forget.

He made ordinary football matches feel like events.

And after more than two decades of watching him wear the Argentina shirt, the chapter is finally closing.

207 games.

125 goals.

A World Cup.

Two Copa América titles.

A Finalissima.

A lifetime of memories.

Thank you, Leo.

Thank you for making football worth watching.

Thank you for making football beautiful.

Thank you for making millions of us fall in love with this game over and over again.

The records will remain.

The trophies will remain.

The highlights will remain.

But the feeling of watching Messi live?

Nobody can ever recreate that.

There will be great players after Messi.

There will be players with incredible numbers.

There will be new superstars.

But there will never be another Messi.

Enjoy the rest of your football, Leo. 🐐🇦🇷

You gave us more than enough.

And somehow…

it still doesn’t feel like enough. @Argentina

#Messi #Argentina #MessiRetirement

[Ornside @ornside]

The last video and the best for me😎

I'm voting for Cole Palmer's goal against Brighton as the winner for the August's Premier League Goal of the Month award. I can't stop watching his SuperB strike!

#CFC #PremierLeague #ColePalmer

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@Dybl30 Palmer is winning it

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@Dybl30 Sleep? Bro I’m already leveraged in my dreams 😭

1000x is basically a direct invitation to humble yourself 💀

[Ornside @ornside]

@premierleague Cole palmer 🥶

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@premierleague Cole palmer is surely winning it!

[Ornside @ornside]

The last video and the best for me😎

I'm voting for Cole Palmer's goal against Brighton as the winner for the August's Premier League Goal of the Month award. I can't stop watching his SuperB strike!

#CFC #PremierLeague #ColePalmer

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@Ayo_Acquire @ESPNFC 😂😂😂😂

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@MagicalXavi The best duo 😍

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@Rayanwaves We never losing him for anything

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@Adikastakes Atleti please I’m begging you 😭 we already have Yamal, Raphinha and Lewandowski. Adding Julián Álvarez is just unfair to the rest of football 😂

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@FlickyCuler Raphinha isn’t even asking for the spot anymore 😭 he’s just playing like it already belongs to him

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@theberneese The boy is just too gooooood

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@LordressH8388 @ESPNFC Cry me a river bro

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@theberneese 4 goals down and the bench still looks like a cheat code 😭 at some point you just accept your fate

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@Kofi_Guess From Ballon d’Or debates to Sunderland in one sentence 😭 football Twitter really has no middle ground

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@CrewsMat10 This is the kind of Barça moment you can’t manufacture ❤️ One generation passing the torch to the next. Who’s cutting onions here? 😭

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@AQ_10_ His long passes are exceptional

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@Shobhitraj75217 I'm even tired 😫

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@Jerrankingmedi9 He's out

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@badboykay_95 Best assist in football now