He defeated the Dream Team twice, winning one gold, one silver and one bronze, and Messi was willing to take the lead. He is Jordan of FIBA!

In recent years, for the Argentine national team, they have achieved extraordinary achievements in football. They not only won two Copa America and one European and American Cup, but also successfully won the third World Cup championship in team history in 2022. It is precisely because of this that Messi has become the contemporary football king in the hearts of most fans. However, what is unexpected is that as a representative figure of Argentina sports, at the peak of Messi, he actually lost to athletes in other events in the selection of best athletes in Argentina. The one who was able to defeat Messi was not someone else, but the "demon sword" Manu Ginobili.

How popular was Manu Ginobili back then? In Argentina, there is even an interesting thing, that is, when talking about football, fans nickname Messi "Ginobili in the football world", and Ginobili is "Messi in the basketball world". Although this is an interesting talk, it is enough to prove Ginobili's greatness. Let's review Ginobili's performance in international competitions together to see why he is regarded as Michael Jordan in FIBA events!

1. He was at his peak when he debuted and led his team to defeat the Dream Team twice.

As early as 1997, Ginobili, who was only 20 years old at the time, was selected for the national team of Argentina. Ginobili played in the European League all the time, which greatly improved his football business. In addition, his playing style is very spiritual, so Ginobili quickly became famous in Europe and represented the Bologna Vitus Club, winning the Serie A championship many times, and he himself was awarded the league MVP. There is no doubt that during his time in Europe, Ginobili had become the king of Europe, which laid the foundation for his later success in the NBA. It was under such circumstances that Ginobili represented the Argentina team in the 2002 Men's Basketball World Championships held in the United States. This year, 25-year-old Ginobili was fully fired, averaging 15.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. Especially in the knockout stage, they defeated the arrogant Dream Team and ended their opponent's winning streak. Although the team lost to the former Yugoslavia in the final due to an accidental injury, Ginobili has become a world-class star.

After the World Championships, Ginobili also chose to enter the NBA. With his outstanding football dealer and imaginative style of playing, he was trusted by coach Greg Popovich. In 2003, he helped the team win the championship and David Robinson successfully retired, Ginobili and Tony Parker gradually became the team's second and third leaders, assisting Tim Duncan to continue to compete for the championship. After 2 seasons of NBA training, Ginobili is even better. Therefore, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, they created miracles. As the absolute core of the team, he averaged 19.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, helping the team to win invincible. Especially in the semi-finals defeating Dream Six team, he scored 29 points and became the most dazzling star. In the finals, they did not miss the opportunity again and eventually won the Olympic gold medal. You should know that Argentina only won 2 gold medals this year, and these two were football and basketball. Therefore, they also dominated these two sports that year, which made the audiences in other countries envious.

2. The Beijing Olympics realizes its dream again and still plays for the country at the age of 39.

However, due to Argentina defeating the United States many times and making great progress in the World Championships and the Olympics, they have also begun to be focused on by other national teams. However, even so, Argentina still won the fourth place in the 2006 World Championships in Japan. Since he had to compete in almost every season to the final stage of the playoffs, Ginobili also felt tired. However, he still had an output of 14.1 points in the World Championships this year, which was generally satisfactory. We soon arrived at the Beijing Olympics. Although Argentina failed to stage myths again this time, under the leadership of Ginobili, they still successfully withstood the pressure and successfully won the game in the bronze medal. In the end, the team also won the bronze medal. Ginobili has completed the harvest of all the gold, silver and bronze medals in international competitions. It is definitely a very amazing achievement to be able to achieve such a performance in that era, so he is also called Jordan of FIBA.

Since then, Ginobili has grown older and it is difficult for him to play for the country in the offseason, so he has not played for the World Championships for the team after the Olympics this year. However, as long as the team needs it, he will still wear the national team's jersey. For example, in the 2011 Copa America, at the age of 34, he participated in the competition again and helped the national team win the championship. In London in 2012, the 35-year-old Ginobili averaged 15.2 points per game. Under his leadership, the team finally reached the semi-finals. Unfortunately, they could not cross the Dream Team anymore, and they lost to Russia in the bronze medal battle, and eventually ranked fourth. However, Ginobili is still active in the FIBA arena. When the Rio Olympics in 2016, the 39-year-old still went with the team. Although his ability is limited, in the hearts of the players, as long as the greatest basketball player in the history of the Argentine national team is still there, the team will have hope of winning the championship. Ginobili did not disappoint his juniors, and averaged 13.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. Although the team stopped in the quarterfinals this time, no one would blame Ginobili. This was also the last performance Ginobili left for fans. Since then, he announced his withdrawal from the national team and there is no more demon sword in the international arena.