MARCA Legends Award received Lionel Messi
Fort Lauderdale, FL (Oct 17, 2024) — MARCA has been Spain’s leading sports outlet for national and international sports.
Since 1997, they have held the MARCA Legends Awards, with previous notable winners being Michael Jordan, Pele, Diego Armando Maradona, Tom Brady, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Alonso, Pau Gasol, and Rafa Nadal. The aim of the award is to recognize individuals who have helped shape sports worldwide.
With U.S. expansion in 2024, MARCA has now introduced the American award, taking all of Major League Soccer, UFC, boxing, the NFL, MLB, and the NBA into account for it.
Lionel Messi accepted the MARCA America Award during a ceremony at Inter Miami’s Chase Stadium on Thursday. The award, given by the largest sports publication in Spain, celebrates Messi’s dominance in the sport with 46 titles for club and country, and 57 individual honors he’s earned in his career.
“I was able to fulfill all my dreams and achieved many more than I dreamed of as a kid. I was able to achieve the biggest dream of a player, which is a World Cup. I won many titles in the club of my life, which is Barcelona. I also won in Paris and now with Inter. I’m fighting to continue to achieve many more things,” an introspective Messi said.
“I don’t get ahead of myself. I try to enjoy day by day. When the time comes, we’ll see. I don’t like to accelerate time or look ahead. I try to enjoy every day. I hope I can keep playing at this level to feel good and be happy. When I get to do what I love, I am happy. I value that more than reaching the 2026 tournament. I haven’t set a goal to reach the World Cup, but more so to live day-to-day and be well.”
Messi had his strongest performance of the year Tuesday when he scored a hat trick with two assists in a 6-0 win for Argentina against Bolivia.
Messi acknowledged a difficult summer, where he was sidelined from a right ankle ligament injury he sustained during the Copa America final. Messi watched from the bench as Argentina was able to win its second straight Copa America title in Miami on July 14.
WHAT NEXT FOR MESSI AND MIAMI?
Messi and the Herons wrap up their regular season Saturday evening in a match against the New England Revolution. Then, they’ll return to action in Round 1 of the 2024 MLS playoffs.
