LEONEL ANDRÉS MESSI also known as LEO MESSI, is an Argentine Professional footballer who plays as a forward and captain the Argentine National team. He is currently a free agent, having played all his professional career for La Liga club Barcelona, whom he captained from 2018 to 2021. Messi has won a record six European Golden Shoes, six Ballon d’Or awards. He spent his entire professional career with Barcelona FC.
Early life:
Messi was born on June 24, 1987. Messi was the youngest player ever to play for Barcelona. Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina and move to Spain at the age of 13 where he was offered the chance to train at FC Barcelona’s youth academy.
FOOTBALL LIFE:
At a young age, Messi was diagnosed with hormone deficiency which restricted his growth. Shorter than most of the kid at the age, Messi showed great talent and skills which put him in front of many organization; one of which was Barcelona. However, Messi was given a trial with Barcelona where he impressed the coach. Barcelona offered Messi a contract which included Barcelona paying for Messi’s treatment in Spain.
During the 2003-04 season, his fourth with Barcelona, Messi rapidly progressed through the club’s ranks, debuting for a record five youth teams in a single campaign. Messi was the one of several youth players called up to strengthen a depleted first team during the international break.
On 24 June 2005, his 18th birthday, Messi signed his first contract as a senior team player. It made him a Barcelona player until 2010, two years less than his previous contract, but his buyout clause increased to €150 million.
His team’s prosperity continued into the second half of 2009, as Barcelona become the first club to achieve the sextuple, winning six top-tier trophies in a single year. Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes De La Plata on 19th December , with Messi Scoring the winning 2-1 goal with his chest. At 22 Years old, Messi won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player Of The Year.
As Messi maintained his goalscoring form into the second half of the season, the year 2012 saw him break several longstanding records. On 7 March, two weeks after scoring four goals in a league fixture against Valencia, he scored five times in a Champions League last 16-round match against Bayer Leverkusen, an unprecedented achievement in the history of the competition.
As Messi evolved into one of the best players in the world, he secured a place in Alfio Basile starting line-up, as part of a team considered favourites to win the 2007 Copa America, held in Venezuela. He set up the game-winning goal of their 4–1 victory over the United States in the opening match, before winning a penalty that led to the game-tying first strike of their 4–2 win in the next match against Colombia.
Following on from their poor qualification campaign, salvaged by Messi, expectations were not high going into the 2018 World Cup, with the team, without an injured Messi, losing 6–1 to Spain in March 2018. Prior to Argentina’s opener, there was speculation in the media over whether this would be Messi’s final World Cup. In the team’s opening group match against Iceland on 16 June, Messi missed a potential match-winning penalty in an eventual 1–1 draw. In Argentina’s second game of the 2018 World Cup on 21 June, the team lost 3–0 to Croatia. Post match the Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli spoke of the lack of quality in the team surrounding Messi, “the reality of the Argentina squad clouds his [Messi’s] brilliance”.
###CONGRATULATION FOR YOUR FIRST INTERNATIONAL CUP#####
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