He was a goal machine. You are so much more — a winger, a striker, a playmaker, anything you want to be. Your four Ballons d’Or for the world player of each year from 2009 to 2012 could become five when the award is announced Jan. 13.

There are only three men in the frame: Cristiano Ronaldo, Franck Ribéry and you.

This despite your injury layoff, much of it spent in retreat in Rosario, Argentina. You returned to training on Thursday, with the team’s first game of the calendar year coming Sunday against Elche.

The hamstring tear on Nov. 10 was the last of several muscle ailments that you said had come because of bad luck. But medical experts who have had hands-on experience with you have said the breakages may have been caused by your body’s being pushed beyond reason.

If we count your 427 games, and 338 goals, for Barça alone, it would sum up a lifetime achievement packed into a career possibly only now at halftime. You also have 83 games and 37 goals for Argentina, against opponents far bigger and more physical than the 5-foot-7, 150-pound body you possess.

Most of them are not quick enough to catch you. But they try. And all your quick bursts, all the twisting and turning, the darting movements you use to escape being caught and to emerge, magically, with the ball, put pressure on the sinews.