Lionel Messi becomes most-decorated footballer of all time after Inter Miami win 2023 Leagues Cup

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Lionel Messi becomes most-decorated footballer of all time after Inter Miami win 2023 Leagues Cup

DeAndre Yedlin delivered a rapid-fire flurry of "no's" - at least 15 in six seconds - but couldn't dissuade Lionel Messi from sliding the captain's armband around his bicep.

The former Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United full-back happily ceded the captaincy to Messi upon his arrival at Inter Miami at the end of July. The 36-year-old icon wore the armband while he scored ten goals in seven games but took it off after his new side won their penalty shootout against Nashville SC in the final of the Leagues Cup.

Yedlin's humility ultimately saw both players shimmy across the stage to hoist the gargantuan cup into the Tennessee sky. For Inter Miami, it was the young franchise's first title of any kind. For Messi, it was his 44th for club and country - more than any other player in the history of the sport.

Messi's supernatural talent was obvious from the second time a ball rolled towards him as a toddler (on the first occasion, he simply watched it scurry past). Playing for his local seven-a-side team in Rosario, Messi didn't lose a game for three years.

The first of Messi's ten La Liga crowns tumbled in 2005 - only Real Madrid's Paco Gento (12) has claimed more top-flight titles in the history of Spanish football. Messi only made nine appearances for Frank Rijkaard's side that season but did score his maiden goal for the club which was teed up by his idol Ronaldinho.

"I still remember that he was the one who assisted my first ever Barcelona goal," Messi reminisced. "He wasn't simply passing the ball, he was passing the torch to me."

Messi did not completely take the baton out of Ronaldinho's hand until Pep Guardiola forced the Brazilian out of the club in the summer of 2008. Guardiola's arrival inspired the best form of Messi's career; during their first full calendar year together in 2009, Barcelona won an unrivalled nine trophies.

Selling Messi's best friend in football wasn't the best start to Guardiola's relationship with the Argentine but he won the player over by letting him represent his nation at the 2008 Olympics. Certain Barcelona executives were not keen on their star missing the start of the club season but Guardiola played peacemaker to lay the foundations of a fruitful partnership.

Angel Di Maria scored the only goal for Argentina in the gold medal match against Nigeria that summer. It would take thirteen years and two international retirements before Messi won his next trophy for La Albiceleste. Once again, Di Maria scored the only goal of the game to claim the 2021 Copa America - Argentina's first title at senior level since 1993.

El Fideo - the Noodle, as Messi calls him - found the net when Argentina made it to the 2022 World Cup final. However, Messi would not let another international showpiece pass him by. Six years after losing the 2014 final to Germany - whose only goal was scored by Mario Gotze after Joachim Low told him: "Show you are better than Messi" - Messi scored twice in a bonkers six-goal thriller against France.

Messi - just as he did for Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup final with slightly lower stakes - converted the first penalty of the World Cup final shootout which his side went on to win.

In the wake of the World Cup final, Messi shrugged: "After this, what else?" Well, there was still the Leagues Cup to add to his haul, taking his career tally to 44 trophies for club and country. Yet, Messi still has plenty of time to further test the structural integrity of his trophy cabinet.