More than 11 years ago, Lionel Messi scored his first-ever hat-trick against Real Madrid. Eleven years later, the Argentinian superstar has already scored 48 hat-tricks, with the first one still his favorite. Now graphic designer @EmilioSansolini has created an infographic with all of Messi's hat-trick balls for football magazine Goal en español.
Lionel Messi posed with each of the 32 balls he has taken home after scoring a hat-trick for Barcelona in April 2015.
In 2015, Messi revealed that his hat-trick balls have a special place in his home even if he can't recall which games they're from.
Each of his hat-trick footballs is signed by his team mates: 'I always sign it because I believe it is recognition for the whole team. Without my team mates I would not have achieved all that I have on an individual level and I think that with a hat-trick, more than ever, because I depend on them to score goals, so it is a nice souvenir to have them all sign it."
"I keep them at home where I keep all my trophies, but I have thought about doing something special with them, something nice with all the footballs. At the moment (in 2015) I have them in glass cases but I am thinking about doing something so that they have a more special place."
How many more hat-tricks Lionel Messi will score in his career? Which is your favorite ball model of Messi's hat-trick footballs? Comment below.