Football

Lionel Messi sent 160 players Christmas gift – including 13 Premier League stars

Lionel Messi will be celebrating this Christmas having got his hands on the item he always wanted – the World Cup trophy.

It is unlikely celebrations will have truly died down just a week after the Argentinian icon led his country to the ultimate international honour on a historic night at the Lusail Stadium. With the World Cup now on his CV, there is not really much that Messi could want for Christmas.

But he has history of giving rather than receiving Christmas gifts – having provided his own small dose of festive cheer to various opponents in 2020. In the run-up to Christmas that year, Messi scored the 644th goal of his Barcelona career to eclipse Pele’s official Santos record – and he decided to mark the occasion with the help of Budweiser.

After bringing up the monumental tally, Messi sent a personalised bottle of beer to the 160 keepers he had scored past since 2005 to reach that tally. Each keeper was sent bottles, with the amounts depending on how many goals they shipped to the legendary magician, now at Paris Saint-Germain.

That meant Diego Alves was given the chance of a particularly merry Christmas, as he received 21, specially made, bottles. Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas was given 17, with his long-term replacement Thibaut Courtois getting nine.

There were a number of familiar faces elsewhere on the list, with 13 of those receiving bottles playing in the Premier League at the time, with Manchester United’s David de Gea, Tottenham keepers Hugo Lloris and Joe Hart and Liverpool’s Alisson all getting a couple. Atletico Madrid stopper Jan Oblak and Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon both thanked Messi on social media for their surprise gift.

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

© Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images

Messi is spending this Christmas celebrating his World Cup win© Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images

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

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