Lionel Messi turns 30: To celebrate, Sportsmail looks at 30 moments and achievements from his life

Happy birthday Lionel Messi - the Barcelona and Argentina star turns 30 on Saturday.
During his long and immensely successful career, Messi has provided plenty of iconic moments, on and off the pitch - whether scoring a brilliant goal, breaking another record, or collecting another award.
Here, Sportsmail counts down 30 great moments in the 30-year-old's career, and celebrates the extraordinary footballing life of Lionel Messi...
Happy Birthday Lionel Messi - the Barcelona and Argentina star turned 30 on Saturday


Messi has dazzled the world at Barcelona as the defining talent of a footballing generation
1) Messi scored his first Barcelona goal just two minutes after coming off the bench against Albacete in a league match in May 2005. He picked up a pass from Ronaldinho and lobbed the goalkeeper brilliantly. The following 509 have beeen in a similar vein.
2) The conversation as to what Messi's best goal is could go on for a while, but even 10 years on the 'Messilona' goal versus Getafe in 2007 takes some beating. In this Copa del Rey tie, Messi emulates Maradona with a mazy run from the half way line before rounding the keeper. 
3) Messi scored his first Barca hat-trick on March 2007, and true to his history-making form, it was scored versus Real Madrid. It rescued a 3-3 draw for a Barcelona side who had played for over half the game with 10 men. He has since netted another 40 triples.
4) Arguably Messi's best individual Champions League display for Barca was his four goal showing against Arsenal in the 2010 quarter final second leg. Balanced at 2-2 after the first, Arsenal took a shock lead through Nicklas Bendtner, but Messi soon took over, scoring all the goals in a 4-1 victory.
5) The previous year saw Messi's first Champions League final, having been left out of the squad in 2006 as an 18-year-old. Messi earned his first win, and scored the second in the 2-0 triumph over Manchester United to end as competition top scorer.
Messi won his first Champions League in 2009, scoring as Barca beat Manchester United
Messi won his first Champions League in 2009, scoring as Barca beat Manchester United
6) In 2011, Barcelona were aiming to reclaim the Champions League crown after being stunned by Inter Milan the previous year. They faced a semi against Real, and Messi carried the team to victory with both goals in the first leg at the Bernabeu. He then scored the winner in the Wembley final, against Man United again.
7) It is said of Alexander the Great that 'when he saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.' Messi might feel the same way - he has scored goals in 23 European cities in 16 different countries, including Minsk, Bremen, Basle, Glasgow, Manchester and London. 

 Messi has scored in 23 European cities, proving as deadly in Stuttgart as he is in Nicosia
8) Messi might have been beaten by Cristiano Ronaldo to 100 Champions League goals, but he has one record the Real Madrid man could not touch - Messi remains the youngest player to appear in 100 Champions League games.
9) If you were to pick an 'annus miribilis' for Messi, it would have to be 2012 – the calendar year in which Messi scored a still scarcely believable 91 goals, beating Gerd Muller's record. This was helped by the Argentine bagging 50 goals in the 2011/12 league season - although Real still won the title.
Messi's greatest year was 2012 - he scored 91 goals in the calendar year, a world record
Messi's greatest year was 2012 - he scored 91 goals in the calendar year, a world record
10) All these goals contribute to a Barcelona scoring record which stands, in competitive games as of the end of the 2016/17 season, at 585 games, 510 goals. Which to put it bluntly is awesome.
11) His record for Barca breaks down as one goal every 102 minutes, although in many of his most fruitful seasons this dips under the one a game mark. For 2016/17, Messi hit the target every 87 minutes on average for his club.

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