A Guide to Messi in Global Pop

To celebrate his impact on MLS, we’re charting Messi’s greatness by looking at his global imprint, region by region—specifically his ability to inspire songs and lyrics across genres, all over the planet.

Anytime someone calls Lionel Messi the GOAT, that’s not hype or hyperbole—it’s just the truth. Because over the course of his two-decade career, the Argentine attacker—a World Cup, Champions League, and record seven-time Ballon d’Or winner—has become synonymous not just with undisputed greatness, but also inspiring moments of awe and joy and slack-jawed, fall-out-your-seat, what-did-he, how-did-he delirium. He’s that rare generational athlete who somehow surpasses expectation even when what you’re already expecting is magic. Someone the entire planet can and often does agree on. Take, for instance, the United States and Canada, two countries where, historically, soccer doesn’t hold the same almost religious significance that it does in so many other cultures around the world. His name frequently pops up in songs by major recording artists, simply because it’s become secondhand for straight-up supremacy—a quality that holds a premium in the competitive landscape of hip-hop in particular. In the summer of 2023 alone—the same summer Messi landed in Major League Soccer and made his debut for Inter Miami, whose every game is now streamable with a subscription to MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app—you can hear it on Travis Scott’s Drake-enriched UTOPIA highlight “MELTDOWN” (“The boy going Lionel Messi, I go Tom Brady”) as well as Nicki Minaj’s guest feature on Lil Uzi Vert’s “Endless Fashion” (“When bitches test me, it get Messi like soccer”). He’s been referenced in songs by Justin Bieber (see: Chance’s luminous guest verse on “Holy”), Future (“I’M ON ONE,” also Drake-enriched), and Kendrick and Baby Keem, whose 2023 single “The Hillbillies” points to the GOAT’s diminutive frame: “5’7”, I’m Messi, girl.” “I feel very flattered to be mentioned in lyrics,” Messi told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe ahead of the 2025 MLS season, the league’s 30th. “My sons also enjoy it, and they are surprised to hear my name in a song. For me, this is very moving, and I am grateful to those who did it because I know that in all the lyrics, they mention me with lots of affection, flattering me for some reason.” Travel south to Puerto Rico, and you start to see how naturally Messi’s appeal can bridge continents, as Puerto Rican icons like Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin, and Anuel AA (not to mention Jhayco and Residente, who’s invited the GOAT onstage in the past) combine with Colombia’s J Balvin and Venezuela’s Nacho. On his 2016 collaborative single with Arcángel “Tu No Vive Así,” Bunny—using some especially vicious wordplay—paints a picture of Messi as living god, an image that resonates in a lot of the Spanish-speaking world: “No he metido un gol/Y tengo cristianos orándole a Messi,” or “I haven’t scored a goal/And I have Christians praying to Messi.”

As Messi captained Argentina to a World Cup title in 2022—their first since his idol and former coach, the great Diego Maradona, lifted the trophy in 1986—one song took hold at home and at the tournament, where it was embraced as an anthem by players and traveling supporters alike: La Mosca Tse-Tse’s “Muchachos, Ahora Nos Volvimos a Ilusionar,” or “Boys, now we have hope again.” It was actually a freshly recorded update to the veteran rock outfit’s 2003 original, with new lyrics written by two fans in 2021 in the wake of Maradona’s death, including the opening line “In Argentina I was born/Land of Diego and Lionel.” Like Maradona before him, Messi’s become a modern folk hero—the subject of countless tributes in Argentina, from rappers (Neo Pistea, Paulo Londra, Duki) to DJs (Bizarrap) and rock bands (De los Palotes). Even in Brazil, Argentina’s fiercest rival, the soccer-specific rap project FutRap felt moved to pay homage, with their appropriately titled single “Rap Do Messi (O Extraterrestre do Futebol),” or “The Soccer Extraterrestrial.”

Home to the world’s top professional leagues, Europe is where Messi has spent much of his career, most famously at FC Barcelona, where he signed at 13 and stayed for nearly two decades. In that time, he inspired artists across the continent: DJs, producers, rock bands, rappers nearly everywhere you look. Stormzy, Britain’s biggest MC, has dropped his name (“When I’m on the ball, I’m cool like Messi”), as has the godfather of French hip-hop, Booba, who celebrated the Argentine’s arrival in Paris in 2021 with a song. There’ve been tributes in Catalan (Toni Beiro’s “El Petit Mes Gran”) and Dutch (Chardy’s “Messi”), and instrumental ones, too (Germany’s Bengee). Rising Spanish artist Adrián Mármol, aka Marmi, describes the desolation of being alone, post-breakup, in sporting terms: “Soy como el Barça sin Messi,” he sings through sheets of pop-punk guitar—“I’m like Barça without Messi.” Equally clever is Richard Dawson’s “Two Halves,” wherein the Newcastle singer-songwriter tells a familiar story of father and son, the former on the sideline “bellowing instructions” at the latter throughout the course of a match: “Stop fannying around! Keep it nice and simple! You're not Lionel Messi! Just pass the bloody ball!”

Back in September 2018, two of Nigeria’s brightest stars embraced on what was then called Twitter. “Fantastico!” Wizkid tweeted, a compliment for “Gbona,” Burna Boy’s latest single. Burna’s response? “High praise from Daddy Yo,” he tweeted, “the Lionel Messi of Afrobeats.” Three years later, they’d join forces on “B. D’OR,” a Ballon d’Or-inspired single on which the two draw a clear line between greatness on the field and on the mic, Wiz rapping, “I dey with one wey dey call me Messi.” South Africa was the site of Messi’s first World Cup as a bona fide star in 2010, and you can find tributes to him elsewhere on the continent, from Ivorian rap (Elow’n’s “Lionel Messi [Papa de ballon]”) to SA’s own amapiano. But as Afrobeats has become a global force in music, Messi’s name has remained present, be it in multiple mentions from Davido or a talismanic nod from Tiwa Savage, queen of the genre, who invoked it as a sign of power. “‘Bombay’ is about a confident girl who’s just like, ‘You ain’t never gonna get a badder bitch than me,’” she told Apple Music of the song, at the time of its release in 2020. “This is it—this is the best you’re going to get.”

The planet’s most populous continent is home to its fair share of Messi enthusiasts. Though he’s only played in Asia sparingly throughout his career, Messi’s rise as the game’s most vital and visible figure has also coincided with a new era of rapid globalization, thanks in large part to social media. So whether it’s J-pop (Travis Japan), K-pop (Bizzy), or Mandopop (Allen Su), what’s more pop than Lionel Messi, a name that translates immediately everywhere? Look a bit deeper, though, and you’ll find him elsewhere in Asia, too—the acoustic folk of Indonesian singer-songwriter Jason Ranti (“Sabda Tiang Listrik”) and the quiet indie-pop of Taiwan’s The Fur. (“Messi”). Or how about the Japanese hip-hop of JAZEE MINOR, which does well to make note of Messi’s humility and quiet, almost inevitable consistency, at odds with the bombast of rap or superstardom. “I’m Messi,” SALU says in a guest turn on 2019 single “NEW BASIC” atop wobbly, toy-like production. “And while the kids are dissing each other, I'm making history.”

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