But the rebound fell to Denis Bouanga, who beat the Italy goalkeeper.Įnglish goalkeeper Etienne Green delayed PSG’s comeback by palming away Neymar’s angled strike in the 40th and Kylian Mbappe’s low effort in the 41st.īut Saint-Etienne’s task was made much harder on the stroke of halftime when Kolodziejczak was sent off for tripping Mbappe, who was chasing a through ball from Angel di Maria. Wahbi Khazri picked out Timothee Kolodziejczak, whose shot was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Saint-Etienne opened the scoring against the run of play in the 23rd minute of the game played in snowy conditions. It is what it is, let’s put our heads up high and let’s go at it! I will come back better and stronger.” “Unfortunately these setbacks are part of an athlete’s life. “Let’s recover from this,” Neymar said on his Instagram account.
The Brazil forward was stretchered off in the 87th minute after twisting his left ankle under an awkward challenge from Yvann Macon. But what he has achieved in each of the four terms - Ballon d'Or awards, European Golden Shoe awards, IFFHS World's Best Playmaker awards and the international tournament awards, would be a dream for any footballer.PARIS (AP) - Lionel Messi had three assists in a 3-1 win over 10-man Saint-Etienne on Sunday to help Paris Saint-Germain extend its lead atop the French league to 12 points but the victory was marred by an injury to star striker Neymar. However, Messi still desires to win the FIFA World Cup, his ultimate dream with Argentina national team. He was the highest scorer, the highest assist provider, the player with the highest number of dribbles and key passes and above all, the Golden Ball winner.
What made it even more special was his series of achievements in the tournament. The win for Argentina in the Copa America 2021 final not only opened the door for a possible 7th Ballon d'Or for Messi it also proved the fact that Messi, as a leader, can win big things for his national team. In spite of having a mentionable contribution in most of the editions of the international tournament runs and having won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball in 2014, his leadership and adaptability were being questioned even after 2019. The Argentine legend had lost 4 finals, including a World Cup final. In each of the three separate categories, nobody could have achieved what he had, but there was just one stain of dirt in his career. The Achievements with the Blue and Whiteīy the year 2019, Lionel Messi had reached the untouched greatness of 6 Ballon d'Or awards, 6 European Golden Shoes and 4 IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awards. The milestone is not a surprising one at all for someone who has the highest number of assists in the history of the game.
In fact, in the season 2019/20, Messi registered the highest number of assists (21) in a season by any footballer in the history of the top 5 European Leagues. In the years 2015, 2016, 20, he achieved the award which explains his increase of focus on playmaking since 2015. The man who won the record number of European Golden Shoe also has the joint-highest number of IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awards to his name. But in Messi's case, there are no boundaries for the term 'expectations.’ 4 IFFHS World's Best Playmaker Awardsįrom a player with a goal-scoring ratio as great as Messi's, playmaking on a regular basis is almost never expected. Throughout the decade of the 2010s, Lionel Messi scored the highest number of official long-distance goals and free-kick goals in addition to his trademark dribbling run finishes. Unsurprisingly, he is also the scorer of the highest number of goals in a calendar year as he scored 91 goals in the year 2012. Nobody else in the history of football has won the award as many times as Messi has, and he has been one of the greatest goalscorers of all time. The Argentine legend has added 6 European Golden Shoes to his name over the years.