'Imagine if Messi scored all these'- Insane Twitter thread goes viral | OneFootball

Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time.

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There can now be very few arguments about that.

The Argentine has seven Ballons d'Or to his name and, after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022, has won everything there is to win.

Messi's game is far more than just goalscoring but he could end his career as the greatest goalscorer in football history.

For Barcelona, he scored a quite incredible 672 goals in 778 appearances. He also scored a mere 91 goals during the year of 2012.

In club football, Messi has scored 716 goals in 886 matches. For Argentina, he's bagged 103 goals in 175 games.

Insane numbers.

But those ridiculous figures could have been even greater with a little bit of luck.

Think of all the times Messi has been denied by a wonderful save, or has hit the woodwork. While that will always be frustrating, imagine if you're denied one of the greatest goals ever scored by such a small margin.

Well, that's happened to Messi on multiple occasions.

In fact, a new thread on Twitter has gone viral showing all the times Messi has been so close to scoring an incredible goal.

Imagine if Messi scored all these

Titled "Imagine if Messi scored all these", the thread shares 14 clips of times Messi only just missed out on scoring a world class goal.

Let's take you through each one.

1. The first came against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou. Messi has the ball on the right about 40 yards away from Atleti's goal. He beats the first man with a turn of pace and is soon confronted by two more defenders. He slaloms between both but is still surrounded by three opponents. He skips through them all to give himself a shooting opportunity inside the penalty area on his left foot. However, his effort is pulled very narrowly wide.

2. This one is reminiscent of that goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League where he humiliated Jerome Boateng. Messi picks the ball up in his own half and runs with pace at the terrified defenders. He beats one with pace and then dummies to go onto his left foot when faced with the final defender. The defender makes the suicidal decision to turn his back which persuades Messi to chop the ball back to his right foot. But instead of dinking the ball into the back of the net with his right foot like he did against Bayern, he attempts a left-footed effort which bounces wide.

3. Away at Bilbao now and Messi is running at the defence on the right side of the pitch. He's tugged back by one opponent which results in him swiveling and running at the heart of the defence. He skips past one challenge, nutmegs another and in a tight space, gets a shot off with his left foot. Unfortunately, it's straight at the goalkeeper.

4. Messi looked like he was going nowhere when he was surrounded by defenders with his back to goal. But a little pirouette saw him stumble past three defenders before quick feet beat another. He was suddenly through on goal, but he could only hit the inside of the post with his placed effort.

5. In what appears to be the very same game, Messi has the ball 40 yards out and is running at the defenders, who are backing off. He cuts inside one man, gets past another and then a third. He managed to find half a yard to unleash a left-footed strike from 20 yards which just goes wide.

6. Remember Messi's incredible goal against Getafe? Well, this one could have been even better. It's eerily similar as he beats an opponent on the halfway line with a superb piece of skill. He keeps running until the edge of the box where he performs his trademark chop onto his right foot, twisting a defender inside-out. However, he drags his right-footed finish just wide to ruin all of his incredible work.

7. Back against Atletico Madrid and Messi beats one man on the right wing, and cuts inside another with a drop of a shoulder and a third with another drop of the shoulder. He lets rip with a powerful effort which smashes off the crossbar.

8. Messi has scored many amazing free kicks in his career but this one could have been his best. We don't often see him just smash it but he did this time, with the ball cannoning off the woodwork.

9. We're with Argentina now and two opponents try - and fail - to foul Messi with him running with the ball. He beats both of them, cuts inside and curls an effort that, again, hits the crossbar.

10. When you know what Messi wants to do but you just can't stop him... Messi has the ball on the edge of the penalty area and everyone knows he's just trying to create some space to get a shot off. Three defenders dived in trying to stop him but couldn't. He then sidefoots an effort that is superbly tipped wide.

11. Bilbao again and this is absolutely incredible. Messi picks up the ball with his back to goal inside his own half. He drives past one man and, as he crosses into the opposition half, two players attempt to bring him down. They fail. He continues and knocks the ball past another defender and creates a shooting opportunity on the corner of the six-yard box which is saved by the goalkeeper. If only...

12. These efforts are just getting better. Just look at how many players are surrounding Messi when he receives the ball. But after a cheeky nutmeg, and tight dribbling in and out of three defenders in an incredibly tight space, he has a shooting opportunity. His poke is saved by the goalkeeper before Luis Suarez scores the rebound.

13. Instead of weaving in and out of defenders with ease, this effort comes direct from a corner against Real Madrid. Messi attempts to beat one of the best - and tallest - goalkeepers in world football, Thibaut Courtois. He manages it but his corner hits the inside of the post and bounces out.

14. Last and certainly not least. This effort came in the Champions League as Messi nutmegs one defender, dinks the ball over another sliding in, skips past another challenge and dinks the ball over the goalkeeper. Unfortunately, it hits the outside of the post. So unlucky.