Top 10 forwards of all time

#4 Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is undoubtedly Barcelona's greatest player of all time

Barcelona have enjoyed an unprecedented era of success since 2008 and the player who has been the most important and integral part of that success has been Lionel Messi. Having played as a false 9, striker, winger and even as a playmaker, Messi has always delivered when Barcelona have needed him the most.

Blessed with incredible dribbling skills, technical ability, and finishing skills, the Argentine superstar has won every trophy there is to win in club football. He has even won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy an incredible 5 times (joint highest with Cristiano Ronaldo) and has continued performing at an extremely high level even this season.

Messi's standing in the game can be seen by these incredible comments by legendary manager Arsene Wenger:

"Messi is the best player in the world by some distance. He's like a PlayStation. He can take advantage of every mistake we make."

While it almost seems criminal to rank a person as outrageously good as Messi at only number 4, his failures with Argentina are the only reason why he is not higher up on the list.

However, Messi will be determined to prove all the doubters wrong in Russia 2018 and it will come as no surprise if the little magician puts in a stellar performance and guides Argentina to the big prize this summer.

Lionel Messi might well be number 1 on this list by the time he decides to hang up his boots. What a player he is!