 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lionel Andrés Messi[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 24 June 1987 [2] | ||
| Place of birth | Rosario, Argentina[2] | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Striker / Second striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Barcelona | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–2000 | Newell's Old Boys | ||
| 2000–2003 | Barcelona | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2003 | Barcelona C | 8 | (5) |
| 2004–2005 | Barcelona B | 22 | (6) |
| 2004– | Barcelona | 189 | (134) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005 | Argentina U20 | 7 | (6) |
| 2008 | Argentina U23 | 5 | (2) |
| 2005– | Argentina | 66 | (19) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:32, 19 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 08:45, 16 November 2011 (UTC) | |||
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi[3] (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays forFC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team, mainly as a striker. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009[4][5][6][7] and 2010.[8] His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor."[9][10]
Messi began playing football at a young age and his skill and potential was soon realized by Barcelona. He left Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys's youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in the 2004–05 season, he broke his team record for the youngest footballer to score a league goal. Major honours soon followed as Barcelona won La Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in the 2006–07 season; he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Messi then had the most successful season of his playing career, the 2008–09 season, in which he scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble-winning campaign. This record-breaking season was then eclipsed in the following 2009–10 campaign, where Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equallingRonaldo's record total for Barcelona. He surpassed this record again in the 2010–11 seasonwith 53 goals in all competitions.
Messi has won five La Liga titles, three Champions League titles, scoring in two of those finals, against Manchester United in both 2009 and 2011. He was not on the pitch as Barcelona defeated Arsenal in 2006, but received a winners' medal from the tournament. After scoring 12 goals in the 2010–11 Champions League, Messi became only the third player (afterGerd 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.[11]
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became an established member of Argentina's senior international team. 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 19 goals in 66 games.
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Early life
Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner.[12][13][14][15] His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from which his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.[16][17] He has two older brothers named Rodrigo and Matías as well as a sister named María Sol.[18] At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.[19] In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario.[19] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[20] The traditional River Plateshowed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for treatment for his condition which cost $900 a month.[15]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.[15] Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin.[21][22] 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.[19][22]
Club career
Barcelona
Messi played in Barcelona's junior Infantil B and Cadete B & A teams from 2000 to 2003 (scoring 37 goals in 30 matches in Cadete A). Season 2003–04 saw him in record[23] five different teams: He started one match in Juvenil B (1 goal) and got promoted to Juvenil A (14 matches, 21 goals). Later he debuted for FC Barcelona C team (Tercera División) on 29 November 2003 and for FC Barcelona B (Segunda División B) on 6 March 2004. He played for both teams during the season (8 matches, 5 goals and 5 games, 0 goals, respectively).[24][25][26]Even before these two debuts, Messi made his official debut for the first-team on 16 November 2003 aged 16 years and 145 days, in a friendly match against Porto.[27][28]
Less than a year later, Frank Rijkaard let him make his league debut against RCD Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at 17 years and 114 days), becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga. This record was broken byBojan Krkić in September 2007. When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, ten months and seven days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for Barcelona[29] until it was again broken by Bojan Krkić in 2007, scoring from a Messi assist.[30] Messi said about his ex-coach Rijkaard: "I'll never forget the fact that he launched my career, that he had confidence in me while I was only sixteen or seventeen."[31] Messi played also in Barcelona B during the season. Messi is Barcelona's second highest goalscorer surpassing László Kubala on 194 goals and now only is behind César Rodríguez Álvarez on 235 goals in all official competitions.[32]
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