Born on June 24, 1987 as Luis Lionel Andres Messi in Rosario, Argentina, Lionel Messi is worldwide recognized as one of the best players in soccer. He has won various individual awards and has established various goal records.
Lionel Messi as a young boy used to tag along with his elder brothers to their game of soccer. He never felt frightened by the bigger boys. At the age of 8, he was selected to join Newell’s Old Boys, a Rosario-based club, but was smaller than most of the kids. The reason was, Messi was diagnosed by doctors as suffering from hormonal deficiency that restricted his body growth.
Jorge and Ceclia, Messi’s parents wanted to give their son nightly growth-hormone injections but paying hundreds of dollars every month on medicines was not in favor of their financial situation. But when, FC Barcelona‘s youth academy, La Masia offered Messi to get trained in soccer and promised to get the medical bills covered, they move across the Atlantic to start a new home in Spain.
“I made a lot of sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream. That’s why I didn’t go out partying, or do a lot of other things,” says Messy.
SOCCER CAREER
Messi made his 1st appearance for Barcelona in age of 16. In 2005 on May 1, Messi got recorded as the youngest player to ever score a goal for the franchise. In the same year, in the Under-20 World Cup, he led Argentina forward team Nigeria by scoring on a pair of penalty kicks. Messi was compared to another famous Argentinean footballer, Diego Maradona for his speed and attacking style. Maradona told BBC, “I see him as very similar to me. He’s a leader and is offering lessons in beautiful football. He has something different than any other player in the world.”
In 2009, Messi got Barcelona titles for the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup. In the same year, he received his first “World Player of the Year” award. In 2010 and 2011, he continued to take his team in La Liga and Spanish Super Cup championships with 2011 champions’ league title.
In 2012, he became the first player to score 5 goals in champion’s league. Few weeks later, he left behind Cesar Rodriguez’s club-record 232 goals and became Barcelona’s leading scorer. Till the end of 2012, Messi had 91 goals in club and international play and broke Gerd Muller’s 85 netted goals of 1972. In 2013, he became FIFA Ballon d’Or winner for the 4th time. And in 2015, he was awarded his 5th FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy.
“My record stood for 40 years – 85 goals in a year – and now the best player in the world has broken it, and I’m delighted for him. He is an incredible player, gigantic,” said Gerd Muller.
INTERNATIONAL CAREER
Messi always led Barcelona to success, but he was upset about his incapability to help Argentina’s national team win a major title. Although he was rewarded as the player of the tournament in 2014 world cup, also led his team to the finals but it lost to Germany. In 2016, when Argentina lost second consecutive time to Chile in finals of the Copa America Tournament, Messy announced his retirement. But later reversed his decision and said, “I see there are many problems in Argentinean football and I don’t intend to create another one.”
TAX CONTROVERSY
In 2016, Messi and his father were found guilty by the Barcelona court for 3 counts of tax fraud. But his father and he denied breaking the law stating they were unaware of any committed illegalities. They were sentenced 21 months in jail but this got suspended. Now they are into fee payment of 2 million Euros for Messi and 1.5 million euro for his father that must be paid by them for making such a fraud.
Other Activities Messi Participated In
Messi also became the commercial face of soccer by supports from Adidas, Pepsi, EA Sports and Turkish Airways and many other companies. In 2016, he was listed as the second highest paid athlete in world after Cristiano Ronaldo.
He formed Leo Messi Foundation for disadvantaged youth who should be given opportunities in life. In 2010, he was named as a goodwill ambassador for his work for children’s rights across the globe.
PERSONAL LIFE
Messi is father of 2 sons, Thiago, born in 2012 and Mateo, born in 2015 with his girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo.
