Fans are only just realising that Lionel Messi trained against a Premier League youth team in Romford while on international duty.
star has won a record eight Ballon d'Or across his career, most recently in 2023 when he picked up the award ahead ofThe opportunity arose as the Argentina national squad were preparing for a match in London so they made the decision to play a warm-up game in Romford which Messi played in.
Footage from the preparation game shows Messi dribbling through the entire youth team's defense before nonchalantly dinking the ball over the goalkeeper in classic Messi fashion. Argentina made it to the World Cup final in the same year as his outing in Romford but failed to get his hands on the trophy despite winning the Player of the Tournament.Messi finished second in the Ballon d'Or in 2014 behind, you guessed it, Cristiano Ronaldo, but Messi would get the trophy back from the Portugal star the year later after winning the Champions League with Barcelona.
Tom Jenkins is a Social Editor and Journalist for SPORTBible. Specialises in Football and F1 but has experience covering a variety of sports such as MMA, Boxing and Cricket. Suffers weekly as an Evertonian.
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