Messi won the title of 2023 Lawrence Sports Male Athlete of the Year, the second time in his career, and this honor once again confirmed his "historical status".
What's the matter, football GOAT is still controversial?
Before last year's World Cup, Messi was already recognized as one of the most outstanding players in football history, but the absence of a World Cup winner has always been his most questioned and criticized "pain point".
However, after holding the Hercules Cup, Messi was officially crowned the king of football, compared to Pele and Maradona, and ranked among the GOAT in football. And the other Cristiano Ronaldo in the "peerless double pride", due to the 5th World Cup 0 title, has lost in this protracted showdown.
Of course, Messi not only has the World Cup, but also 42 titles in all competitions, including the Copa America and four Champions Leagues, the second most won title in history, second only to Alves with 43 titles - if Ligue 1 wins this season, it will equal, while Ronaldo is 34 titles, it is difficult to catch up.
What's more, Messi has 7 Ballon d'Or awards and 7 World Footballer of the Year awards from FIFA, both of which are the most in history. Now, he has won the Laureus Male Athlete of the Year for the second time, the only footballer to do so.
Perhaps only in terms of the number of goals, Messi is still inferior to Cristiano Ronaldo, but 30 goals is not much. Don't forget that he is two years younger in age, and his goal efficiency is actually higher than that of the president! Moreover, he is about to surpass Cristiano Ronaldo to become the all-time top scorer in the five major leagues, which is even more valuable, and he is only 11 goals away from the Champions League.
So, Messi is the GOAT of football, is there any controversy? No! The recognition of the Lawrence Award only reaffirms this fact.
Historical status: One of the GOATs in sports
Also in football, Goat, Pele and Maradona have their own greatness, but their "disadvantage" is that they were not born in this era of social media. Ronaldo, who has 500 million ins, is inferior to Messi in terms of individual and team honors, so Leo is the banner and representative of football.
However, as the "world's number one sport", before 2020, no footballer has ever won the Laureus Award, so when Messi won the first award three years ago, he had already made history, which was equivalent to being recognized by the "sports Oscar" and being able to enter the hall.
What's more, Messi represents not only football, he is also the only "three ball" player to win the Laureus Best Male Athlete so far, and the only collective athlete to win the Laureus Best Male Athlete! Basketball, volleyball, rugby, baseball, ice hockey, hockey, and so on and so forth, no player has reached this feat.
Therefore, he represents the three major balls, represents the collective sport, to compete with golf, tennis, F1 and other "aristocratic" and "elite" individual sports. This is something that none of the NBA superstars did, Curry "failed" this year, but he lost to Messi, and Messi did it.
2 times winner, Messi equalled Nadal and Schumacher. Natto, like Federer (5 wins) and Djokovic (4 times), is a tennis GOAT. There is also 3-time award-winning golf superstar Tiger Woods, and 4-time award-winning "Human Speed Limit" Usain Bolt -
But when it comes to sports GOAT, these are names that cannot be ignored and must be mentioned, and Messi at least stands alongside them as one of the greatest superstars in the history of sports - of course, there are some superstars in this hall who have not won awards due to their age: Michael Jordan of basketball, Ali of boxing, Tom Brady of football, Gretzky of ice hockey, Phelps of swimming, and so on.
To sum up, this second award is more like a grand ceremony arranged by the Lawrence Sports Institute for Messi to ascend the throne and crown the "sports GOAT", just like Charles III, who has just officially become the King of England.