Lionel Andrés Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi], born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays in La Liga for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as a forward.
By the age of 21, Messi received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations, won both the Ballon d'Or[2] and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2009, and won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011.[3] He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. His playing style and small stature has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor".[4][5]
Messi has won five La Liga titles and three Champions League titles. After scoring 12 goals in the 2010–11 Champions League, Messi became only the third player (after Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin)
to top-score in three successive European Champion Clubs' Cup
campaigns. However, Messi is the first one to win the Champions League
top scorer titles for three consecutive years after Champions League
changed its format in 1992.[6] Messi is the fourth football player to win three Ballons d'Or, after Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten and the second player to win three consecutive Ballons d'Or, after Michel Platini (however, two of his Ballons d'Or are FIFA Ballons d'Or, which he won consecutively). In 2012, Messi made UEFA Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match, in a 7–1 win against Bayer Leverkusen.[7] With a brace in the next round against A.C. Milan, he matched José Altafini's record of 14 goals in a single UEFA Champions League season. [8]
After a further two goals the following week against Real Zaragoza,
Messi became the first player since Gerd Müller in the 1972-73 campaign
to score 60 goals in a single European season.[9]
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. At international level Messi has scored 22 goals in 67 games.
Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner.[10][11][12][13] His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from which his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.[14][15] He has two older brothers named Rodrigo and Matías as well as a sister named María Sol.[16] At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.[17] In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario.[17] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[18] Local powerhouse River Plate
showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to
pay for treatment for his condition, which cost $900 a month.[13] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, had been made aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida, Catalonia, and Messi and his father were able to arrange a trial.[13] Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin.[19][20]
Barcelona offered to pay for Messi's medical bills if he was willing to
move to Spain. Messi and his father moved to Barcelona where Messi
enrolled in the club's youth academy.[17][2
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