Argentinian star Lionel Messi, who is considered one of the greatest footballers of all-time, turned 36 on Saturday (today).
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has notched up 807 goals and 357 assists, in more than a 1,000 appearances, over the course of his illustrious career, which also includes four UEFA Champions League titles.
Here is how Twitter reacted as Messi turns 36
Last year in December, Messi finally crowned his record-breaking career with the one trophy that was missing as he produced a performance that will go down in World Cup history, scoring a first-half penalty and netting again in extra time.
France had fought back from 2-0 down in the last 10 minutes as Kylian Mbappe scored twice to equalise and force extra time in a pulsating match watched by an 89,000 crowd in Lusail Stadium.
Messi seemed to have decided the match in extra time with his second goal of the game before his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Mbappe completed only the second World Cup final hat-trick to bring the score to 3-3 and force penalties.
Gonzalo Montiel swept home the decisive spot kick to win the shootout 4-2 for Argentina — but this was Messi´s moment.
Messi had tasted bitter defeat in the 2014 final against Germany but in his fifth and final World Cup, he finally emulated Argentina idol Diego Maradona by leading his nation to World Cup glory for the first time since 1986.
Tens of thousands of blue and white-shirted Argentina football fans rose to salute Messi as he told them "We´re champions of the world!" on the stadium microphone.
Later he told Argentine television: "Obviously I wanted to finish my career with this. I can´t ask for any more.
"My career is coming to end because these are my final years. What more could there be after this?"
But he said he would continue with the Argentina squad. "I want to keep experiencing a few more matches as world champion," he added.