He marked it in all positions, all competitions, all contexts. But among the 860 goals of Lionel Messi, one of them occupies a special place in his heart. Recently questioned on the subject, Argentine legend surprised everyone by revealing his favorite goal. A choice that is not based on the beauty of the gesture or on technical difficulty, but on pure emotion, the moment engraved forever.
This goal is that listed with the head against Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final. That evening in Rome, FC Barcelona of Guardiola outlets the Ferguson's Reds Devils, and Messi, smaller player on the field, succeeds in the unthinkable: a goal of the head. “I choose it for the moment and for what it represented”, said the player. In an aerial deviation, he closes the perfect season of the Blaugranas and won his first Champions League as a holder.
Messi's goal that even Cristiano Ronaldo would have admired
It must be said that Messi has never been a head game specialist. This is undoubtedly what makes this goal so memorable: it is unique. In a career made of dazzling acceleration and chiseled dribbles, this success is detonated, almost improbable coming from a player with so little aerial profile. But it is precisely this contrast that makes the moment magical.
Messi finally chooses his favorite goal … and that's not the one you believe!
By choosing this goal, Messi voluntarily dismisses other moments, however mythical. The one in the final of the 2022 World Cup against France, that against Real Madrid alone, or its masterpieces in Liga. But nothing replaces the emotion of a first big coronation, of an unexpected feat, of an image that crosses the ages.
More than the goal itself, that is all it represents for Messi who consecrates it. At 21, he then took place among the greatest. And today, at 36, this memory remains his favorite. Like a metaphor for his career: unique, emotional, unpredictable.
