Player profile

The man considered the world’s finest player has enjoyed his most successful season in a Barcelona shirt. He scored 34 goals in 35 matches as Barca retained their Liga title.

In all competitions he netted 47 times in 53 games (including the Uefa and Spanish Supercups). Both figures matched the Barcelona club record set by Brazilian star Ronaldo in 1996/97.

He was the only player to feature in all 18 qualifiers, but a return of four goals suggests neither Alfio Basile nor Diego Maradona could get the best out of him. His only goal in eight qualifiers under Diego came at home to a fairly weak Venezuela side.

While Barca’s fluid 4-3-3 system is tailor-made for Messi, he does not look as comfortable in the 4-4-2 formation Maradona prefers.

Messi has been the target of some rather unfair criticism in the Argentine media. Newspaper La Nacion said in March “the world's best footballer is an Argentine who, in his own country, has fewer fans than a referee”. A small minority of fans resent the fact that Messi never played professionally for an Argentine club, even though he turned down the chance to play for Spain.

Messi was sent off within 90 seconds of his international debut for a retaliatory elbow on Hungary defender Vilmos Vanczak. He played a supporting role at the 2006 World Cup, starting against the Dutch but making his other two appearances off the bench.