Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi is known for his elite goalscoring ability. The 36-year-old Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner has scored the highest number of goals for a single club. The late football legend Pele was the previous holder of this record, scoring a total of 643 goals during his days at Santos. Messi surpassed Pele’s record in 2021 when he scored his 644th goal for Barcelona.
Messi’s goal-scoring brilliance was celebrated a few years ago by the popular beer brand Budweiser in a rather unique way. They produced a total of 644 beers with special packaging, reminiscing about the number of goals he’d scored at the time. Many goalkeepers like Buffon, Neuer, Casillas, and Oblak have been victims of Messi’s goalscoring prowess, but one particular Spanish goalkeeper took a lion’s share of the beer delivered by Budweiser.
When Diego Alves got a beer for every Lionel Messi goal he conceded
Budweiser made an exciting decision to gift bottles of beer to the goalkeepers that Messi had successfully scored against. They allotted one bottle for each goal conceded by a specific keeper.
It turned out that Diego Alves was the worst victim of Lionel Messi’s goalscoring prowess. He had conceded 21 of Lionel Messi’s goals. However, he took consolation in the fact that he was in the company of great goalkeepers like Buffon and Oblak; most goalkeepers could never be immune to Messi’s touches on the ball.
Throwback to when Goalkeeper Diego Alves received a bottle of beer for every goal he conceded against Lionel Messi.
— LSPN FC (@_LSPNFC) June 9, 2022
Filipe Luis comment never gets old.😭🍺 pic.twitter.com/W8RtfOaYMP
Messi’s favourite victim, Alves, acknowledged his gifts when he uploaded on Instagram the 21 bottles of Budweiser sent to him; each bear bottle representing the goal conceded against Lionel Messi. He said: “Thanks, Messi, for reaching 644 goals. I won 21 bottles; it seems I’ve got my own record.”
Highlighting Diego Alves’ career
Diego Alves’ goalkeeping career started with Almeria, a Spanish team, in the 2007–08 season. He continued at Almeria and participated in the Spanish Primera Division until the 2010–11 season. Throughout Diego Alves’ stay at Almeria, he appeared 122 times, keeping 22 clean sheets.
From Almeria, Alves moved to Valencia, where he had a relatively better career but conceded even more goals. During his time at Valencia, he conceded 21 goals to Lionel Messi. After a five-year stint in Valencia, Alves moved to Brazil, where he spent roughly five years with Flamengo.
In his time at Flamengo, Alves had already escaped the sting of Lionel Messi’s masterclass goalscoring. However, he still conceded quite a number of goals here. According to FootbalCritic, he appeared 134 times, conceding 113 goals.
Diego Alves is currently a player for Celta Vigo after he moved to the club in 2022. For a goalkeeper, he has had quite a decent career. It would have been an even better career if he did not have to face fearsome goalscorers like Lionel Messi.
