A record 36 hat tricks in La Liga, record six time winner of Ballon d'Or award (considered one of the highest football award for individuals) and with six European Golden shoes, Lionel Messi is the greatest sportsman football has ever seen.
Lionel Andres Messi Cuccuttini is from Argentina and plays for the famous Spanish club 'Barcelona' and of course for the country he was born in. He is often compared to the other great footballer Christiano Ronaldo who is from Portugal. Ronaldo has come close to Messi winning the Ballon d'Or five times.
He was born on June 24th 1987 to parents Jorge Messi and Celia Cuccuttini in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina. Messi grew up in a family that loved football. He had two older brothers Rodrigo and Matias with whom he used to constantly play football with.
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But Messi's greatest influence to the game was put forward by his grandmother Celia. Celia used to take Messi to many matches and training to witness his heroes in action.
At the age of 4, Messi joined a local club called Grandoli. His father was his main coach at this time. Messi loved a club called the Newells Old Boys which he really became a fan of, after watching their numerous matches. At the age of 6 Messi joined the club and instantly began to shine. He displayed spectacular skills as well as an ability to maneuver around the defenders and find the sweet spot between the opponents goal post. Within a period he had scored almost 500 goals with the team. They were almost unbeatable. Messi was also known for his reserved and mostly silent character. Many of his teammates would say " Messi is very talented and quick, but he spoke so little that at first we thought he was mute". But at this point Messi was just enjoying football more and more everyday.
Then the unthinkable happened. At the age of 10 Messi was hit by a medical condition which would lead to reduced growth in his body. The doctor warned his parents that unless Messi underwent a treatment using growth hormone he would have physical trouble and would not grow in a normal way. This severely dampened his spirits because the treatment was very costly at the time (almost $1000 a month). His team Newell paid for the costs for some time, however they soon stopped supporting his treatment.
The main player he looked up to was the Brazilian top scorer at the time - Ronaldo. Messi wanted to be just like him when he grew up and still thinks that he was the best forward he had ever seen in football. Just before his 11th birthday his Grandmother died. The loving Grandmother who showed him the magic of the football world had left him.
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This greatly affected Messi. It is said that he spent many weeks avoiding playing football altogether. Eventually he stood back up on his feet and began to chase his dream. Many a times, you must have seen Messi looking up to the sky after scoring a goal. This is his tribute to his Grandmother.
Remember that Messi was still struggling to keep his medical expenses covered for his growth hormone deficiency. This is when his father approached the Barcelona team in Spain for a chance to sign Messi into the team. At the time, the Barcelona team was trying to establish itself into some form of agreement in the European league. So as a part of this Barcelona signed Messi into their team. Due to a transfer agreement with the old team Messi was however unable to play any major matches. This disappointed him.
At age 14 with the help of Barcelona, Messi had completed his medical treatment and was now free to play without worries. This was also the year that he finally could showcase his talent. He had broken free from his old team's contract as well. During his first major season Messi was the top scorer in the 2002-03 season. It is interesting to note that after breaking his cheek bone in a match , Messi was asked to wear a mask as a safety measure. However he soon found the mask to be disturbing his game play and threw it away, after which he proceeded to score 2 goals in a time span of 10 minutes.
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From here on wards Messi was on the elevator to success. He rapidly jumped the ranks within the team and made it to the Barcelona C team debut at the age of 16 years, 4 months. He came on to the ground at the 75th minute against a friendly match with Porto. Within the last 15 minutes Messi had managed to create 2 chances and shot a goal in one of them. This was an eye opener for the technical staff of the Barcelona team. It was also at this time that Ronaldinho noticed Messi's skills and became friends with him, Ronaldinho would call Messi "little brother".
Messi was a concern for many selectors due to his short and weak body structure. This did not make Messi feel bad, instead he trained in the gym , focusing on upper body strength and size to push off his opponents. This worked. And also thanks to his short height Messi had a lower center of gravity hence he had an incredible ability to change directions even when he was speeding off with the ball.
2004-05 Messi was further promoted to the B team as a main player. Messi was doing well for his team, but the players on the main team was taking note of him and soon they requested the manager to promote him to the main team. So at the age of 17 years, 3 months Messi became the youngest player to play for Barcelona in an official tournament. on May 1 2005 Messi scored his first official goal against the team Albacete that too from an assist from his friend Ronaldinho. He thus became the youngest player to score a goal for Barcelona.
It was in June 2005 that Messi signed a major 5 year contract to play for the senior team. It was at this time that another Team Inter Milan offered Messi Euro 150 million to break out from his contract and triple his salary. However Messi was still grateful to Barcelona and chose to stay with them ignoring the offer.
Up until 2013 Messi was able to provide his team Barcelona with many consecutive La Liga championship victories and as an individual winning many Ballon d'Or awards and FIFA World Player of the year awards as well.
But perhaps the most talked about thing about Messi was how he has not so far able to win a major tournament like the FIFA World Cup. Messi had his greatest chance ever at the 2014 World Cup at Brazil, however Argentina lost in the final match against Germany from a last minute score.
Some say this is due to the fact that Messi was struggling with injuries ever since the year 2013. He had even changed his physiotherapist at one point. He also had damage to his hamstrings which ultimately caused a break in his 21 consecutive games goal scoring record. At the time of the world cup many doubted if Messi could play in the World Cup and some even fearing that the Spanish club had worn him out. However Messi still participated in the World Cup yet he was not able to give in his all.
In the 2018 World Cup even though the qualifying campaign was said to be poor, Messi had somehow fought for his Argentina team and brought them to the World Cup in Russia. But soon in the initial stages as quoted by the Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli "The team around Messi lacked quality". He further added by saying "There was no way to give Messi the ball since he was well protected by the opponents".
In 2018-19 season, Messi had achieved the tenth La Liga title with Barcelona and won the Golden boot award for the 6th time. On August 2019 Messi had won the Ballon d'Or for the 6th time.
Many of his coaches not only praises Messi for his individual performances but also about how he works as a major team player by creating numerous opportunities for the team to score. He is known for his quick reactions and his ability to judge what move his opponent is going to make. Though Messi always wanted to the Hero (Ronaldo) he had in mind as a child, today Messi stands as someone who is truly iconic in his own way and who many consider has surpassed many achievements most professional footballers can only dream of.