Lionel Messi arrived back at Paris Saint-Germain‘s training ground on Wednesday to resume his day job, making a return to club football 17 days after claiming 2022 World Cup glory for Argentina as he was given a guard of honour by staff and his teammates.
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Having successfully added soccer’s greatest prize to an honour roll that includes the Copa America, the Champions League, multiple league and cup titles and even Olympic gold, it may seem like there is no frontier left to conquer for Messi as he readies himself to return to action.
Messi — a seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or on an individual level — has racked up 40 major honours in his career for club and country thus far, but there is still one outlier that remains unclaimed, at least for now.
As incredible as it may sound, there is only one major competition that Messi has played in and not won since he turned professional almost two decades ago: the Coupe de France.
The 35-year-old’s one appearance in the French cup — a penalty shootout loss in last season’s round of 16 to Nice, who lost the final to Nantes — means it is the only senior competition he has contested without eventually going on to win.
However, PSG are just half a dozen games away from being able to right that wrong as Christophe Galtier’s side begin their 2022-23 Coupe de France campaign on Friday against La Berrichonne de Chateauroux in the round of 64.
UEFA Super Cup (3 titles in 2009, 2011 and 2015)
In an exhibition game that pits the winners of the Champions League and Europa League against each other, Messi was a fundamental part of the side that delivered Barcelona’s first UEFA Super Cup since 1997 when they beat Porto in the 2011 edition. The Argentine then claimed the trophy again in both 2011 and 2015, which remains Barca’s last appearance in the fixture.
FIFA Club World Cup (3 titles in 2009, 2011 and 2015)
Messi has played five games, scored five goals and lifted the trophy three times in the Club World Cup — an annual knockout mini-tournament organised by FIFA that throws the reigning champions of each of the six continental confederations together along with the national league champions of the host nation.
Paris Saint-Germain
Ligue 1: (won in 2021-22)
Having had to wait all of nine months, Messi won the Ligue 1 title at the first attempt in his inaugural season at Paris Saint-Germain, playing 26 times and contributing six goals and 15 assists as he gradually found his feet in the French top flight. This season, with 17 league games gone, he has already racked up seven goals and 10 assists.
Trophee des Champions: (won in 2022)
📺 The highlights of our victory at the #TDC2022 ! 🏆🔴🔵
⚽️ Leo Messi
⚽️⚽️ @neymarjr
⚽️ @SergioRamos pic.twitter.com/zWRpevqfVu— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) July 31, 2022
Messi then went on to collect his second club honour with PSG last July as the Ligue 1 champions trounced Coupe de France winners Nantes 4-0 in Tel-Aviv.
Coupe de France (0 titles)
The Coupe de France is the one that got away for Messi, at least for the time being. In fairness, his only appearance in the competition came back in January 2022, when a strong PSG side were knocked out by Nice in the round of 16. The game finished goalless in regulation time and was eventually decided via penalties, with Les Aiglons winning 6-5 in the shootout. Messi, for the record, scored his spot kick.
ESPN’s Stats & Information Group contributed to this report
