Lionel Messi's emotional reaction to Argentina's Copa America celebrations | OneFootball

Lionel Messi has won an extraordinary amount of trophies over the course of his footballing career.

At Barcelona, the little genius won La Liga a whopping 10 times, triumphed in the Copa del Rey on seven occasions and won four Champions Leagues.

Messi also has an incredible number of individual accolade to his name. The 35-year-old’s seven Ballon d’Or successes is an all-time record, as is his tally of six European Golden Shoes.

But the one trophy that means more to Messi than any of those previously mentioned is the Copa America.

After a decade of failure in an Argentina shirt, the Paris Saint-Germain forward finally won a major international trophy last summer.

Messi was the orchestrator of the nation’s achievement as well. The captain led the way with four goals and five assists, adding the tournament’s Golden Ball award to his collection in the process.

The man from Rosario didn’t score Argentina’s goal in the final against Brazil, that honour belongs to Angel Di Maria, but his overall contribution will forever be unrivalled.

The most important win of Messi’s distinguished career

The way Messi celebrated the triumph, both on the night at the iconic Maracana Stadium and in the weeks that followed, made it clear just how much it meant to him.

And further evidence to support the point of importance to Messi has emerged in a new Netflix show documenting Argentina’s first Copa America win since 1993.

In the documentary, which sadly isn’t available to view in the UK, Messi is asked to re-watch footage of the celebrations and he simply couldn’t hold back the tears.

The PSG man isn’t one who shows emotion too often, but that all changes when it comes to the 2021 Copa America…

Right, who’s cutting onions then?!

Messi’s love for Argentina is evident for all to see and now he’ll be fully focused on emulating the late Diego Maradona by guiding his beloved nation to World Cup glory out in Qatar.

La Albiceleste are one of the favourites to win the tournament, especially now their captain is back playing a level of football that is out of reach for mere mortals.

Argentina will also go into the tournament on the back of a 35-game unbeaten run, which is the joint-second longest in the history of international football.

If Lionel Scaloni’s hugely-talented side avoid defeat in their World Cup group games against Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland, they will surpass Italy’s record of 37.