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7 Guinness World Records Held by Lionel Messi As Ronaldo Becomes Most Capped International Player

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Lionel Messi has shattered a number of world records since becoming a professional footballer

The Argentine achieved incredible feats during his years at the Spanish club Barcelona, where he spent over 17 years

He holds a number of Guinness World Records, but here we look at seven of the massive achievements

Argentine legend Lionel Messi holds a staggering number of Guinness World Records, and the Inter-Miami-bound superstar is expected to smash more before he retires.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has already bagged 34 trophies at club level, making him one of the most decorated footballers ever.

Messi has won the FIFA World Cup, Copa América and CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions titles on the international scene.

Sport Skeeda reports that the Barcelona legend holds a staggering number of fabulous records, and here we look at 7 Guinness World Records held by Lionel Messi.

7. Most Man of the Match awards won at the FIFA World Cup – 11:

The Guinness World Records confirmed that Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Arjen Robben had each won six Man of the Match awards at FIFA World Cup tournaments before the 2022 edition in Qatar.

However, the Argentine pulled away from the pack earning Man of the Match in five games at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, including the final.

6. Youngest player to score 50 Goals in the Champions League

The then-Barcelona star was just 24 when he scored his 50th goal in the UEFA Champions League, achieving such a feat on April 3, 2012.

It was a quarter-final clash against AC Milan, where he netted a brace in Barcelona’s 3-1 win.

Messi became the youngest player in the tournament’s history to reach that milestone.

5. Most appearances on a video game cover

Messi is the most featured on video game covers in multiple franchises, including the FIFA games series from EA Sports and the PES games series from Konami.

The Argentine has graced 10 video game covers – PES 2009, PES 2010, PES 2011, FIFA Street, FIFA 13, FIFA 14, FIFA 15, FIFA 16, PES 17, and the PES 18 Legendary Edition.

4 Highest annual earnings by a footballer

At 35, Messi is the highest-earning player. His arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo earned that status for the past two seasons running.

The Argentine overtook bonuses as he now earns $80 million a year, with an additional $27 million coming from various endorsement deals.

3. Most Goals in a UEFA Champions League Match

In 2012, Bayer Leverkusen needed a miracle to upturn their 3-1 first-leg loss to Barcelona as they travelled to Camp Nou.

Unfortunately, the night belonged to Messi, who scored five goals, becoming the first player to do so in a Champions League match.

Luis Adriano has since equalled the record while playing for Shakhtar Donetsk against BATE Borisov in 2014.

2. Most La Liga appearances by a foreign player

The Argentinean featured in 520 La Liga matches for Barcelona between 2004 and 2021, making him the foreign player with most La Liga appearances.

He netted 474 league goals in total, and it is only fair that he has the record of the most appearances in La Liga by a foreign player to his name.

1. Most Goals scored by a substitute in a Copa America Match

On June 10, 2016, Messi netted a hattrick against Panama at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA, despite coming on as a substitute.

Otamendi put La Albiceleste ahead in the 7th minute, but the goals flooded in as soon as Messi came on in the 61st minute of that game.

It took him just seven minutes of his introduction to make it 2-0. Messi made it 3-0 in the 78th minute before completing his hat-trick nine minutes later before Sergio Aguero added the icing on the cake, making it 5-0

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Fulham 0-2 Chelsea: Mudryk, Broja strike to earn Blues their second league win of the season

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Chelsea bagged two first-half goals to seal a crucial win over West London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage and move up to 11th on the Premier League table.

The Blues flew out of the blocks as they debuted their new Infinite Athlete kit and created the first chance of the match after only 80 seconds, but Armando Broja could not capitalise.

Chelsea looked bright with Enzo Fernandez conducting affairs, and they picked the Cottagers apart.

Mykhailo Mudryk was looking electric and dangerous. The Ukrainian winger opened the scoring on 18 as he controlled a pass from Levi Colwill before slotting the ball beyond Bernd Leno.

It was Mudryk’s first Premier League goal following his £88 million move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January. And within seconds, Chelsea had their second.

Tim Ream had a moment to forget as he gave the ball away to Cole Palmer. The young English playmaker then slipped Broja in, but Ream hit the ball off the Albanian striker as the ball trickled past Leno.

Fulham tried to find gaps behind Marc Cucurella and Axel Disasi on the right side of Chelsea’s defence, but it was not working. Chelsea controlled the game and held their two-goal going into the break.

In the second 45, Fulham came out with more attacking poise, and it helped that Mudryk went off with a knock, giving Fulham the impetus to come forward, but Chelsea’s defence stood resolute.

Vinicius and Alex Iwobi came on for Fulham and helped their side find spaces beyond Chelsea’s backline, but the Boys in Blue defended well and showed they were still dangerous.

Ian Maatsen, on for Mudryk, hit the post, and Leno had to be quick to smother Fernandez’s rebound effort. Fulham forced Chelsea to work for their lead, but Mauricio Pochettino’s men looked up to it.

Substitute Tom Cairney created a lovely chance for Sasa Lukic. However, Robert Sanchez stuck out a brilliant leg to save the effort and keep his side in it.

On 83, Willian tried an effort from outside the box, but it did not cause any problems for Sanchez as Chelsea ran out 2-0 victors

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Man Utd winger Anthony in contention for Galatasaray UEFA champions league clash

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Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Antony could feature for Manchester United against Galatasaray after rejoining his ranks at Old Trafford.

The Brazil international forward was granted indefinite leave by the Red Devils following a series of alarming allegations made against him by former girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin.

Antony has been back in his homeland since then, allowing him to meet with police forces in Sao Paulo.

He returned to England last week and has held five hours of talks with Greater Manchester Police.

The 23-year-old winger maintains his innocence – having also faced accusations from two other women.

United have allowed him to focus on off-field matters of late, but revealed ahead of a Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace that Antony had been given a green light to return to training and was once again available for selection.

He has only taken in one session since then, suggesting that he will be short on match fitness, but Ten Hag says the South American is in his thoughts ahead of the Champions League group stage meeting with Galatasaray on Tuesday.

The Dutch coach has said: “Antony will be in consideration but yesterday was his first time back in team training. We have a final training, then we’ll make a decision.”

Ten Hag added when delivering an update on Lisandro Martinez – with the World Cup-winning Argentine defender still struggling with a long-standing foot injury: “I can confirm, yeah. Licha Martinez will undergo surgery and the team news is Antony can probably return.”

Antony’s last appearance for United came in the club’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on September 3.

He was removed from the Brazil squad for the last round of international fixtures and has not registered a goal for club or country since April 16.

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‘Rigged game!’ – Diogo Jota’s wife Rute Cardoso slams ‘clown’ officials

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Diogo Jota’s wife, Rute Cardoso, claims Liverpool’s controversial clash with Tottenham was “rigged” by the “clown” officials taking charge.

The Reds suffered a dramatic 2-1 defeat in north London that threw up all kinds of talking points. Luis Diaz saw a goal wrongly ruled out for offside, leading to PGMOL issuing an apology for a “significant human error” and Jurgen Klopp’s side calling for an investigation into how these mistakes keep on happening.

Liverpool also had Jota and Curtis Jones sent off, with questions being asked of both red card decisions. Jones was dismissed for a supposedly reckless challenge, which saw his boot slide over the top of the ball, while Jota made little contact with Destiny Udogie when collecting two yellows in the space of 22 seconds.

Cardoso has now hit out at referee Simon Hooper, his team of officials and those in the VAR booth. In one post on Instagram, which includes the statement from PGMOL, she has added the text “rigged game” with a line through it. She has also stuck a giant clown emoji onto an image of her husband collecting the first of his bookings for clipping the heels of Udogie.

Liverpool face the threat of a fine from the Football Association for collecting more than five yellow cards in one Premier League fixture, while Alexis Mac Allister is at risk of sanction after airing his own complaints on social media – with the World Cup-winning Argentine suggesting that Spurs benefited from having “12 players”.

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