FC Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has single-handedly been more successful than Real Madrid.

FC Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has single-handedly been more successful than his former club’s arch nemesis Real Madrid since his rise to prominence in 2004.

Messi was awarded his eighth Ballon d’Or by France Football on Monday, which leaves him three ahead of generational rival Cristiano Ronaldo when it comes to his personal tally of what is deemed their sport’s highest individual accolade.

With both men on the road to their 40th 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡days and now plying their trades in the United States and Saudi Arabia, it is doubtful that we’ll ever see them running out for top European outfits again.

Save for his likely participation in a planned tribute match where he could play a half for current employers Inter Miami and the other for the hosts at the Camp Nou, 2021 was likely the last time we were able to enjoy Messi donning the colors of his boyhood club FC Barcelona.

As that chapter is done, Messi’s legacy in Catalonia is starting to be questioned.

Detractors want to know why the Argentine “only” won the Champions League four times during his 17-year stay in the Barca first team, in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015 to be more specific.

But as Mundo Deportivo columnist Xavier Bosch points out – Messi was just as successful as Los Blancos over that period as they also got their hands on the elite big-eared trophy in 2014 ahead of a “threepeat” from 2016-2018.

It goes deeper than that, with Messi also managing more Ballon d’Or gongs overall than Fabio Cannavaro, Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema combined and routinely dethroning the latter mentioned trio when they were crowned by France Football’s panel.

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If we’re going to nitpick, Messi technically claimed the prize six times as an official Barca player but we could call it an even split as he had done the work for the Catalans that won him his seventh award in 2021 when the dust was still settling on his recently-penned Paris Saint-Germain contract.

Looking at just Spain to save argument, Messi lifted La Liga twice as much (10 times compared to five), almost quadrupled what Madrid managed in the Copa del Rey (7 times compared to two) and the Spanish Super Cup seven times compared to four.

The only platform where there is equality is the UEFAEFA +1.1% Super Cup won three times each. Apart from that, we can forever look back on an era of dominance for Messi and Barca.