Lionel Messi gets honoured with a life-size statue that will be placed next to Diego Maradona and Pele

 Lionel Messi gets honoured with a life-size statue that will be placed next to Diego Maradona and Pele

Lionel Messi (Source – Twitter)

Argentina football star Lionel Messi has been honoured with a life-size statue unveiled by The South American Football Federation (Conmebol) at its headquarters in Luque, Paraguay. He received this honour for his Fifa World Cup 2022 triumph in Qatar. Messi’s statue will be placed alongside the statues of football legends, Diego Maradona and Pele in the CONMEBOL museum.

The PSG star was also present during the unveiling of the statue holding a replica of the World Cup trophy. Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title after 36 years, defeating France in the penalty of the dramatic final in December 2022. He emulated Maradona, who led his country to the World Cup triumph in 1986.

‘I had a very long road, many decisions and defeats’ – Messi

“I had never dreamt or thought about this,” Messi said. “My dream was to enjoy what I liked when I was little, to be a professional football player, to do what I always loved in this life. I had a very long road, many decisions and defeats, but I always looked ahead and wanted to go for a triumph, for a victory,” said Messi during the unveiling of the Statue.

“I think that is the most important thing, to fight for your dreams, that everything is possible and to enjoy the game, which is the most beautiful thing there is,” he further added.

Recently, Messi also completed the 800th goal of his career, as Argentia defeated Panama by 2-0 in a friendly match. He is now just behind Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 830 goals in his career.

Messi has now scored 99 goals for Argentina and will be looking to complete his 100th goal in a friendly match against Curacao on March 29th. He was expected to retire from the game after the World Cup final against France, but he said that he wanted to carry on a bit longer so he could play for Argentina as a World Champion.

He is now looking forward to returning to Barcelona or possibly moving to MLS as a free agent speculated on – added on landing the one major trophy that had eluded him prior to a historic tournament in the Middle East.

Steven

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