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The Argentine picked his goal for Barcelona against Man United as his favourite and the strike is set to be immortalised by artist Refik Anadol.
Lionel Messi’s 2009 UCL Final goal for Barcelona Vs Manchester United. (X)
One of football’s all-time greats, Lionel Messi, revealed his favourite goal of his iconic career. The legendary Argentine forward, one of the leading goalscorers in club and international football, named the goal of all goals that is the closest to his heart. Looking over his winning goal at the 2022 World Cup, Messi called the header he executed to secure FC Barcelona the 2009 UEFA Champions League crown against Manchester United as his personal favourite.
“I had many goals that are perhaps even more beautiful and of enormous value, also because of their importance, but the header in the Champions League final against Manchester United was always my favourite,” Messi told ESPN upon joining hands with Inter Miami CF Foundation’s ‘A Goal in Life’ charity initiative.
Messi’s strike remains one of the most famous goals in Champions League history as his header ensured a 2-0 victory for Barcelona against the Red Devils under Pep Guardiola at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on May 27, 2009. Approaching the goal’s 16th anniversary, Messi deemed it the most iconic goal of his great career among over 800 goals the legend has scored for Argentina, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami.
The famous header saw the 5’7″ Messi leap higher than United’s former defender Rio Ferdinand to meet Xavi’s cross, pushing the ball over goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Messi remembers that moment fondly. “It was hard to imagine that I was going to score with my head with Ferdinand standing near me, but I did not really have a marker — the ball came into the centre and I was there to meet it,” he recalled.
Messi’s goal held great significance in Barcelona’s football history as it ensured the club a treble for the season. “It was such an important goal in every sense: for the team, for the way the final was turning in our favour and for me, too. It is still one of my favourite goals,” he said.
The goal will now be immortalised by celebrated artist Refik Anadol, who is set to turn it into a unique digital artwork. Anadol will use artificial intelligence to create a piece of art that best embodies Messi’s match-winning goal. Thousands of data points from the match will be used to enable the creation of the art for which the audiovisual rights of the goal have already been donated by UEFA.
The piece will be auctioned for charity, with the proceeds going towards education initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with UNICEF. Christie’s website will have the formal unveiling done on June 11 before the art is made available for public viewing from July 15 to 21 in New York. The bidding for the Messi artwork can be done online until July 25.
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