Lionel Messi: “I have nothing left to achieve, I’ve achieved everything”

Lionel Messi added football’s biggest prize to a list of trophies that includes a record seven Ballon d’Or titles, four Champions Leagues, one Copa America, 10 La Liga titles with Barcelona and two Ligue 1 crowns with PSG, after winning the World Cup with Argentina last December. 

In May, he broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for the most goals scored in Europe’s top five leagues and, to date, has scored a combined 807 goals for club and country.

“I have nothing left to achieve, I’ve achieved everything,” the 36-year-old told BeIN Sports. 

However, Messi said his individual achievements were secondary to those won with his teams, though he did concede they were “nice recognitions”.

“I achieved the most important goal I had, which was to win the World Cup with my national team and it was something extraordinary, the way everything happened,” he said.

“I never thought about individual awards and I never gave them more importance than the collective awards.

“To have achieved the objectives with the Argentina national team and to have achieved everything at an individual level, at a team level, for me it is to close an extraordinary career.”