Christmas will be special for Lionel Messi because he already received the World Cup trophy, which was his greatest wish last year.
Given that Messi already has the World Cup on his resume and that some in Argentina are still rejoicing over their victory in Qatar a little over a year ago, there’s not really much that Messi could ask for this Christmas.
Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for Barcelona in the win over Real Valladolid
However, he has a habit of giving Christmas gifts rather than getting them; in 2020, he gave a few opponents a small dose of his own seasonal enthusiasm. Messi chose to celebrate the event with Budweiser after breaking Pele’s official Santos record with his 644th goal of the Barcelona career in the run-up to Christmas of that year.
Messi delivered a personalized bottle of beer to each of the 160 goalkeepers he had scored past since 2005 to reach that remarkable total after mentioning the astounding total. Bottles were supplied to each goalie, the quantity according on the number of goals they shipped to the great magician, currently with Paris Saint-Germain.
Diego Alves thus had the opportunity to have an especially joyous Christmas since he was given 21 specially crafted bottles. Iker Casillas, a legend of Real Madrid, received 17, while Thibaut Courtois, his long-term replacement, received nine.
Other well-known names might be found on the list. Of the 13 players that received bottles, 13 were Premier League players at the time. These players included David de Gea of Manchester United, Joe Hart and Hugo Lloris of Tottenham, and Alisson of Liverpool. On social media, Messi received gratitude from Juventus veteran Gianluigi Buffon and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak for their unexpected present.
Full list of keepers Messi sent Christmas gifts in 2020
21 Diego Alves
18 Gorka Iraizoz
17 Iker Casillas, Andres Fernandez
14 Diego Lopez
13 Ivan Cuellar, Roberto
12 Andres Palop, Tono, Pau Lopez
11 Claudio Bravo , Dudu Aouate, Ruben Martinez, Marko Dmitrovic
10 Jan Oblak
9 Carlos Kameni, Thibaut Courtois, Beto
8 Christian Abbiati, Daniel Aranzubia, Sergio Asenio, Fernando Pacheco
7 Miguel Moya, Cesar Sanchez, Jordi Codina, Willy Caballero, Bernd Leno, Cristian Alvarez, Keylor Navas, Antonio Adan, Juan Carlos, Sergio Rico
6 Asier Riesgo, Gustavo Munua, David de Gea, Casto, Kiko Casilla, Gero Rulli, Manuel Almunia
5 Sergio Aragoneses, Vicente Guaita, Salvatore Sirigu, Przemyslaw Tyton, Fabri, Oier Olazabal, Iago Herrerin, Sergio Alvarez, Ruben Blanco, Tomas Vaclik
4 Ricardo, David Cobeno, Gregory Coupet, Javi Varas, Esteban, Julio Cesar, Andrey Dikan, Adrian, Yoel Rodriguez, Bono, Jeroen Zoet, Aitor Fernandez, Jordi Masip, Manolo Reina
3 Woiciech Szczesny, Franco Costanzo, Toni Doblas, Andriy Pyatov, Roberto Fernandez, German Lux, Hugo Lloris, Alexandros Tzorvas, Johan Selberg-Wiland, Roman Pavlik, Kenneth Vermeer, Jasper Cillessen, Urko Pardo, Diego Marino, Mat Ryan, Dorus de Vries, Leandro Chichizola, Neto
2 Luis Garcia, Ruben Perez, Remy Vercoutre, Artur Boruc, Sergio Sanchez, Juan Pablo, Hans Jorg Butt, Edwin van der Sar, Oleksandr Shovkovskiy, Jens Lehmann, Jacobo Sanz, Juan Calatayud, Aleksandr Gutor, Rafael, Mario Fernandez, Mikel Saizar, Joe Hart, Jaime Jiminez, Manuel Neuer, Petr Cech, David Ospina , Jon Andres Serantes, Craig Gordon, Nauzet Perez, Gianluigi Buffon, Kepa , David Soria, Axel Werner, Alisson, Jaume Domenech, Sergio Herrera
1 Anthony Lopes, Mathieu Gorgelin, Raul Valbuena, Mario Galinovic, Inaki Lafuente, Jose Pinto, Tim Wiese, Javier Lopez Vallejo, Marco Sotari, Raphael Schafer, Allan McGregor, Sterano Sorrentino, Vladan Kujovic, Timo Hildebrand, Francesc Arnau, Juan Carlos Caballero, Rui Patricio, Leo Franco, Inaki Goitia, Juan Pablo Carrizo, Vladimir Stojkovic, Oscar Ustari, Diego Calzado, Federico Vilar, Damian Albil, Justo Villar, Fock, Helton, Fraser Forster, Dani Hernandez, Marco Amelia, Enaut Zubikarai, Jesus Fernandez, Xabi Irureta, Julian Cuesta, Marcelo Barovero, Manu Fernandez, Yann Sommer, Kevin Trapp, Silvio Proto, Juan Soriano, Stole Dimitrievski, Ondrej Kolar, Roman Burki, Rui Silva, Alex Remiro, Denes Dibusz, Ruslan Neshcheret