Creating stories of progress and challenging the status quo; these are things common to Audi and football sensation Lionel Messi. Expectedly, the athlete’s preference in cars leans on those that dare conventions and place a premium on performance.
Messi just recently made history in his fifth and final appearance at the FIFA World Cup. In Qatar, he helped claim Argentina’s first title in football’s biggest prize since the 1986 games in Mexico. This means Argentina has now scored its third World Cup title in six finals appearances, with Messi finally clinching a trophy that had long eluded him — Argentina prevailed over rival France 4-2 in a finals match that saw him dominating with two goals. Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe scored the two others to force extra time and a shoot-out.
Considered as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Messi has won an unprecedented six European Golden Shoes, a record seven Ballon d’Or, and was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team in 2020. While playing for Barcelona, he took home 35 trophies, including 10 La Liga championships, seven Copa del Rey crowns, and four UEFA Champions League titles. He also holds the record for most goals, hat-tricks and assists in various national and international events. Plus, he is a known philanthropist, having contributed millions of dollars to global charities.
Audi and football
Messi, who since 2021 has been playing for Paris Saint-Germaine, belonged to the Barcelona squad for nearly all his professional life. As a member of the Catalan team, Messi enjoyed the privilege of having been provided with Audi cars — Audi and Barcelona had cooperated with each other for decades. This started the tradition of Audi Sport RS models being highly preferred by the footballers. In his last few years playing for the Barcelona club, Messi enjoyed the delights provided by an Audi RS 6 Avant finished in Sepang Blue.
Audi Sport is the high-performance division of Audi AG. It develops and produces the RS models, which are defined by distinct designs and a capacity to be driven daily even if these are focused on performance. The Audi RS 6 Avant is powered by a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo, gasoline V8 TFSI engine that makes 600hp and 800Nm of torque. This output allows the high-performance station wagon to sprint from rest to 100 km/h in only 3.6 seconds, and to 200 km/h in 12 seconds.
The Audi RS 6 Avant is far from being Messi’s lone performance car. Included among his collection of supercars is the Audi R8. And during his association with Barcelona, Messi had a range of Audi models at his disposal, including the Audi A7 sports sedan and the Audi Q7 full-size SUV.
Messi’s preference for Audi was witnessed recently when the football star, fresh from Argentina’s World Cup triumph, returned home in Rosario, Argentina. As recorded in a social media post that has gone viral, Messi was welcomed by fans who wanted to celebrate the victory, and he and his wife had to carefully tread their Audi Q8 luxury SUV through the crowd gathered on their driveway.
“A World Cup champion with a world-class vehicle,” Audi said on the comments section of the viral Instagram post.
Audi continues to enable football clubs. Since 2020 the brand has allowed Bayern Munich to become the first international football club to drive using electric power. The stars of the Champions League winner were awarded their Audi e-tron models as part of Bayern Munich’s and Audi’s partnership that is set to last until 2029. The partnership includes strategic collaboration in innovative marketing concepts and electrification, as well as the club being able to reduce its fleet consumption and thus make an important contribution to sustainability.