Messi and football's exclusive 'triple crown' club - which only has nine members
Lionel Messi will be missing from the Champions League knockout stages this season after his decision to quit European football for the MLS.
However his four European Cup medals have allowed him to be part of an exclusive club, which doesn't yet have ten members. His World Cup success with Argentina meant Messi became just the ninth man to win the European Cup, the World Cup and the Ballon d'Or.
That is a treble that has eluded the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff - three greats of the game. Messi's first Champions League came in 2006 before he added three more in 2009, 2011 and 2015. His exploits have also seen him claim a record eight Ballon d'Or crowns.
Before Messi the most recent player to enter the club was Kaka after he helped AC Milan win the Champions League in 2007, which also earned him the Ballon d'Or. The Brazilian playmaker was the last man to claim the Golden Ball before we entered the Ronaldo-Messi dominated era.
His World Cup came back in 2002 when he was a relatively unknown quantity. As a result the youngster, then at Sao Paulo, hardly featured but he has the medal firmly in his cabinet with his efforts in later years marking him out as a modern great.
Mbappe misses two penalties and open goal in one minute before going off injured
Two of his compatriots and team-mates in 2002 are also in the club - and certainly played their part in that Brazil triumph. Rivaldo and Ronaldinho each scored in the quarter-final to see off England with the latter's looped free-kick remaining an iconic goal.
Rivaldo's best days were perhaps pre-2002 with the playmaker being most effective at Barcelona, claiming the Ballon d'Or in 1999. It was whilst at AC Milan though, where he only spent a season, that the Brazilian won his only Champions League medal as the San Siro outfit beat Juventus on penalties in the final.
Ronaldinho and Kaka won the World Cup together in 2002
Rivaldo and Zinedine Zidane both won their Ballon d'Ors in the late 1990sRonaldinho meanwhile really hit his straps after that World Cup, moving to the Nou Camp where he was undoubtedly the world's best player for a period. He won the Ballon d'Or in 2005 and added the European Cup a year later.
German icons Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer are more compatriots whose successes largely came alongside each other. Beckenbauer is recognised as his country's greatest player but whilst he was excelling at the back Muller was scoring for fun in the final third.
Both men won the World Cup in 1974 and also claimed three straight European Cups with Bayern Munich from 1974-1976. Muller claimed his Ballon d'Or in 1970 with Beckenbauer winning the accolade in 1972 and 1976.
Paolo Rossi was Juventus' main man during the 1980s and won the European Cup with the Italian outfit three years after claiming World Cup glory with his country. He won the Ballon d'Or in the same year. Sir Bobby Charlton was one of England's heroes in 1966 and also formed part of the famed frontline at Manchester United.
Zinedine Zidane justified his world-record transfer fee by scoring a legendary goal in the Champions League final in 2002, helping Real Madrid claim glory. He also spearheaded France's World Cup triumph on home soil in 1998, which saw him claim the Ballon d'Or.
The nine members of the 'triple crown' club: Sir Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Lionel Messi.
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