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Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best players to have graced the beautiful game. Having recently turned 37, he's still going strong for club and country.
Despite injuries increasingly beginning to plague him, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner has been effective whenever he has been availability. During his illustrious two-decade career for club and country, Messi has scored nearly 850 times.
To be exact, he has notched up 735 goals and 355 assists in 904 games in club football (for three different clubs) and a further 109 goals and 58 assists in 187 outings for Argentina. Messi's extraordinary goalscoring and assisting ability means he has provided a goal contribution against nearly every team he has played against.
Did we say nearly every team? Yes, we did, because La Pulga has gone without a goal or an assist against seven teams, three of them during his current stint with Inter Miami.
Seven teams Lionel Messi has failed to register a goal contribution against
#1 UDA Gramenet
A 17-year-old Lionel Messi drew blanks as Barcelona slumped to a surprise 1-0 Copa del Rey defeat to UDA Gramenet in October 2004.
#2 Udinese
Another team La Pulga faced early in his career, the then 18-year-old Messi went without a goal contribution in a 2005 UEFA Champions League game as Barcelona won 4-1, thanks to goals from Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o.
#3 Rubin Kazan
The Russian side was Barcelona's so-called 'bogey team', as they won just once in four games. Impressively, Rubin didn't allow Messi a goal contribution.
#4 Bordeaux
In his only appearance against Bordeaux in March 2022, Messi drew blanks even as his PSG side won 3-0. Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Leandro Paredes were the scorers. Incidentally, Bordeaux have lost their professional status after filing for bankruptcy this month.
#5 Toronto FC
Inter Miami cruised to a 4-0 MLS home win over Toronto FC in September 2023. Robert Taylor (brace), Facundo Farias and Benjamin Cremaschi were the scorers for the Herons.
#6 CF Montreal
In an MLS regular-season game in March 2024, Inter Miami fell to a 3-2 home defeat to CF Montreal. The game saw La Pulga fail to register a goal contribution. Jordi Alba made it 2-3 in the 80th minute for the Herons, but an equaliser wasn't to be.
#7 DC United
Lionel Messi featured for Inter Miami in their hard-fought 1-0 win over DC United in May 2024. But it was his former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets who assisted Leonardo Campana's 94th-minute winner.
