Lionel Andrés Messi is arguably the greatest footballer ever to kick a soccer ball and certainly the most decorated since Pelé. The phenomenal striker moved with his family from his native Argentina in 2001 when he was just 13 years old to join FC Barcelona's youth academy, and that's when the legend began. After a few seasons with Barcelona's C and B squads, Messi was called up to the first team at the age of 16 to compete against the world's best in La Liga, and the rest is history. 672 goals [including all competitions] later, he stands as FCB's top scorer of all time. His 474 goals in La Liga are by far the most ever. It's safe to say that both records will never be broken.
It seemed that Messi was destined to stay with Barça forever, but when the storied club's financial troubles reached a boiling point at the end of the 2020-21 season, his fate quickly changed paths. As news broke in August 2021 that Leo was leaving his Barça familia and one of the world's premier football leagues to join Paris Saint-Germain in France's Ligue 1, it sent shock waves throughout the football world. A few years earlier, PSG had made huge financial committments to superstars Kylian Mbappé and Neymar with aspirations to win the UEFA Champions League and become Europe's most dominant club. Now with Messi, PSG would feature perhaps the most formidable attacking unit ever assembled.
Presented in this lot is a pair of Lionel Messi's match-worn boots from his first season with Paris Saint-Germain. On December 7, 2021, PSG hosted Club Brugge KV (Belgium's most accomplished club) at Parc des Princes stadium for an important Champions League match. PSG cruised to a 4-1 victory thanks to braces from both Messi and Mbappé. The white Adidas cleats, conclusively photo-matched to his two-goal performance on 12/7/2021, have a chic design with gray and fluorescent orange accents. Light as a feather with no internal tagging present, they have several unique characteristics quite personal to the 5' 7" left-footed magician.
Adorning the right boot is a small Argentina flag icon stamped on the outer side, with the names of Messi's two oldest sons and their birth dates ("THIAGO 02 11 12" and "MATEO 11 09 15") labeled in black on the inner side. On the left cleat is Leo's iconic No. "10" stamped on the outer side with the name and DOB of his youngest son ("CIRO 10 03 18") and his wife's shortened name ("ANTO") on the inner side. Light soiling and moderate scuffing from the game are evident. Messi's patented slit on the toe of his left-dominant boot was used by the photo-matching experts to make a definitive match. Includes LOA with full documentation and matching images from Resolution Photomatching.