Lionel Messi Biography

BIRTH: June 24, 1987, Rosario, Argentina

Lionel Messi Biography : Stats, Family & Facts

Lionel Messi is an Argentinean football player who has been named FIFA ‘World Player of the Year’ four times. He is also the first player to win three European Golden Shoes.

Lionel Messi was born as Luis Lionel Andres Messi on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina to Jorge Messi and Celia Cuccittini. At the mere age of five, Messi started to play for Grandoli, a local football club coached by his father. By the time he turned eight, he was playing for the youth academy of Newell’s Old Boys, a major professional football squad in Rosario.

Messi was smaller than most of the kids in his age group. At the age of eleven, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. The treatment was costly, so his father went to several Argentine football clubs for financial aid. The coach of FC Barcelona, Carles Rexach came to his aid and offered Messi a contract and promised to pay for his medical bills – only if they moved to Spain. Messi signed the contract and joined FC Barcelona’s youth academy.

Messi officially started his football career in 2000 in the under-14 team. He scored 21 goals in 14 games for the junior team.

At the age of sixteen, Messi made his informal debut for FC Barcelona in a friendly match. At just seventeen years of age, he became the youngest player to play and score in the Spanish La Liga 2004-05 season. The same year Messi got his Spanish citizenship, which made it possible for him to make a debut in the Championship League. He managed to strike six goals in the season in a total of seventeen games. But Messi had to leave the championship midway due to a muscle tear in his thigh. Barcelona went on to win the league that season.

From 2007, Messi was no longer a backup player in the matches. He was one of official eleven members in the team. In the 26 league games, he successfully netted the ball fourteen times. He even scored a hat-trick in El Clasico, the youngest player ever to pull this off. He was dubbed “Messidona” because his way of scoring was very similar to Maradona’s, who was the greatest footballer at the time.

In 2007 he sustained a muscle tear injury for the fourth time in three seasons. The club hired a personal physiotherapist for Messi so he would recover faster.

The year 2008-09 was a successful one for Messi. He helped his team to win the La Liga and eventually the Champions League. FC Barcelona achieved their first ever ‘treble’ (a team winning three trophies in a single season or calendar year). Messi ended the season with 38 goals overall in 51 matches, besting Ronaldo for the FIFA ‘World Player of the Year’ honor.

In 2010, Messi continued to grow as a professional football player. His team won La Liga 2009-10 once more. It was also the year he earned a Golden Shoe award for being Europe’s leading scorer. He also led Barcelona to the ’11 Champions League title. In the 2011-12 season Messi broke records upon records. At the age of 24, he became the club’s all-time best scorer, surpassing Cesar Rodriguez’s record of 232 goals. He also exceeded Gerd Muller’s 85 goals in club and international play by scoring 91 goals by the end of 2012. In January 2013, he made history after getting named the FIFA Ballon d’Or winner for the fourth time.

Messi declared his retirement from inter national football following Argentina’s second consecutive loss to Chile in the final of 2016. However, fans started a campaign to convince him to change his decision and they succeeded. Messi agreed to be a part of the Argentinean team for the 2018 World Cup.

Messi’s considerate nature extends to a lot of charitable work as well. In 2007, he formed the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity which supports children for health care, education, and sports. Because he faced many medical ailments in his childhood, he wanted to help children who were going through the same trials. His charity covers the transport, hospital and other costs for sick children. In 2010, he worked with UNICEF as their goodwill ambassador to support children’s rights. In 2013, Messi donated a large sum of money for the renovation of the Victor Vilela Children’s Hospital in his hometown of Argentina.

Messi married his long-time girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo in June 2017. They knew each other since Leo was only five years old but only began dating in 2008. The couple has two sons, Thiago and Mateo.